Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly is losing her voice — it’s why she wasn’t anchoring her Fox News show today. But Kelly took the time to talk with TVNewser about the comments she made Monday night on “The O’Reilly Factor.”
Discussing the weekend pepper spray incident at UC Davis, Kelly began by explaining what pepper spray is. “It’s a derivative of actual pepper. It’s a food product, essentially,” said Kelly.
That was enough of a headline for Kelly to be pilloried on blogs and news sites. The comment even got the Taiwanese animation treatment.
Today, Kelly explains it this way: “[O’Reilly] wanted me to tell him what is in pepper spray, so I told him what the active ingredient is. That’s all I meant to convey… not that I meant it’s a snack!”
Kelly, who has carried around pepper spray herself “for years” didn’t expect the blow-back that came with the comments. “I think what happened was people didn’t watch the whole segment and assumed I was diminishing it. In no way did I mean to diminish what was happening.”
“As I pointed out to [O’Reilly] moments later, I told him it was abrasive. And I told him that what these kids were doing was very American.”
Kelly also told O’Reilly, “from a legal standpoint, I don’t know if the cops did anything wrong,” but that the force they used is more a moral question, than a legal one.
“I think it would be clear if you watch the four minutes of TV,” Kelly tells TVNewser. If you haven’t seen it, judge for yourself, after the jump.