Political commentator Megyn Kelly criticized CBS “60 Minutes” host Scott Pelley over his recent interview with the parental rights group Moms for Liberty and challenged him to a “one-on-one” debate.
During her show on Monday, Kelly reacted to a “60 Minutes” interview released on Sunday, in which Pelley interviewed Moms for Liberty co-founders Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich about parental rights within schools, particularly focusing on “book bans.” Kelly accused the interview of being “manipulated” to portray the parental rights group negatively. (RELATED: School Board Member Sworn In On Stack Of Explicit ‘Banned’ Children’s Books)
Kelly called Pelley a “dumbass” and said that “inappropriate sexual content” was prevalent in schools nationwide. The political commentator explained her decision to withdraw her children from New York City schools due to mandatory faculty reading materials that accused white mothers of “indoctrinating” their children.
“It’s creepy that these schools want this overly sexualized material in front of our kids. And he [Pelley] completely ignores his, ‘What ideologies do you object to?’ Kelly said. “But we pulled our children from their schools in New York City. As you guys know, our eldest who was in fourth grade – that school was literally circulating a ‘scholarly article’ that they wanted to be mandatory reading for all faculty, accusing white mothers of indoctrinating their children in Black Death. Scott, you’re in New York, you dumba*s! Do a Google search. Try reading the New York Post instead of just the New York Times, you might expand your horizons.”
“It’s happening! It’s happening with race. It’s happening with gender and it’s happening with inappropriate sexual content,” Kelly continued. “All you must do is open your eyes [and] your ears. Get out of your stupid myopic media circles, for once, and think about somebody else’s children. This is what’s so frustrating, Stu. This is why I was disappointed in the segment. I know that they manipulated Moms for Liberty. I know they weren’t fair to them.”
“But this is why you need – f*cking have me on Scott Pelley! I dare you: Put me on,” Kelly challenged. “I will go on CBS News and you and I can have it out one one-on-one, or you come on my show, wherever you want to do it. And we’ll have a little redo and we’ll do it live! So you can’t cut me up. But even if you do cut me up, I’m ready for you. Because you will hear this sh*t in every answer I will give. And why is that? Because I have three children who are 14, 12, and 10 – I’ve lived this!”
Following the interview’s release, Moms for Liberty slammed the network and Pelley in a social media post for censoring the controversial books they shared. They listed and shared photos of the books they had previously presented to producers, noting that these books had been reported in schools, not just local libraries or retailers.
“We sat down w/ @60Minutes about so-called “banned books” w/@ScottPelley on 10/12/23,” the group stated. “Tonight, the piece finally aired. The books we shared were censored. Why? Would they have caused @CBSNews to get a FCC fine for reading pornographic material on-air? Or was it just not on message about “extreme right wing hate speech?” You decide.”
The parental rights group has been known to advocate for removing books that contain explicit content, with some notably showing pornographic LGBTQ scenes. In a list posted on their website, over 150 books have been called out so far by Moms for Liberty, which is reviewed by group members and given a “universal book content” rating.