NBC will still air Megyn Kelly – Alex Jones interview, despite backlash

Despite whatever threats, backlash, or skeptical advertisers there may be out there, clearly NBC is still committed to their Megyn Kelly – Alex Jones interview. This conversation is set for this weekend’s new episode of Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly, even though Jones himself recently threatened to release audio of a pre-interview that he reportedly had with the broadcaster. He claimed that he was being set up to look a certain way, which is completely shocking because setups seem to be Alex Jones’ favorite thing to talk about. (C’mon, wasn’t that joke a little bit easy.)

In speaking about the decision to still air the interview, a rep for NBC News said the following (per TV Guide) on the subject:

“Despite Alex Jones’ efforts to distract from and ultimately prevent the airing of our report, we remain committed to giving viewers context and insight into a controversial and polarizing figure, how he relates to the president of the United States and influences others, and to getting this serious story right.”

There are still many questions that we do have concerning this interview, and the one that stands out more so than any other is pretty simple: Why choose to air the interview in the first place? Why run the risk of backlash and negativity. We understand the argument of showing people how ludicrous some of Jones’ awful beliefs are, but we don’t think it takes a national TV interview in order for anyone to know that. Also, we’ll reiterate here what we’ve already said several times already: If for whatever reason someone comes out of this interview feeling bad for Jones or believing one of his conspiracies, then this is a complete failure. It’s just not something that needed to be done, though clearly Kelly is angling for controversy with her show given that this interview is coming mere weeks after she had a conversation with Vladimir Putin, one that was certainly buzz-worthy in theory but ultimately one that didn’t amount to a whole lot of anything.

In the end, what the folks over at NBC are looking for are ratings, and we’ll see whether or not this somehow ends up producing them.

Do you think NBC should at this point just give it up and realize that they never needed to do this interview? Be sure to share some of your further thoughts on the subject below. (Photo: NBC.)