Megyn Kelly accused of victim shaming after saying believing every woman is 'absurd'
NBC News landed the first interview with Julie Swetnick, the third Brett Kavanaugh accuser, and while the network’s Megyn Kelly didn’t conduct the interview, she had a lot to say about it and the credibility of Swetnick, leading many to accuse her of victim shaming.
The NBC personality has been all over the Kavanaugh coverage and posted several tweets about Swetnick on Monday, including one directed to the woman’s attorney, Michael Avenatti. In it, Kelly questioned Swetnick’s credibility. “Most women tell the truth, but not all do,” she wrote.
When one person commented that Kelly is enabling the “Male Misogynistic Culture,” Kelly — who previously accused former Fox News’ Roger Ailes of sexual harassment — replied to that as well.
When followers pointed out that it probably meant a lot to Kelly when she accused former Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes of assault and was believed, she cited the evidence she had to back her claim.
The last tweet from Kelly criticized the #BelieveSurvivors and #BelieveWomen movements. She wrote that “the notion that *every* woman must be believed is absurd,” citing the 2006 rape case involving Duke University lacrosse players.
Kelly’s series of tweets has people saying that she is victim-shaming Swetnick.
Some found it especially egregious considering her claims against Ailes.
And others noted that Swetnick — as well as Christine Blasey Ford, the first woman to accuse Kavanugh of sexual assault — were in high school at the time of the alleged incidents and didn’t have a collection of legal evidence to present like Kelly later did.
Some were shocked she drew the comparison between Swetnick and the Duke case.
Others called for the cancellation of Kelly’s show.
Swetnick’s interview with NBC News aired on Monday night — and Kelly wasn’t the only one with questions about her story. NBC noted at the beginning of the interview with Swetnick — who previously claimed through her lawyer that the Supreme Court nominee was present during a “gang rape” in the early 1980s — that the network “has not been able to independently verify her claims” and that there were “things she told us on camera that differ from her written statements last week.” However, Kate Snow, who conducted the interview, noted that the network is “not discounting what she said in any way,” and said that “a lot of people” were working on corroborating her account.