Megyn Kelly suggests Jeffrey Epstein 'wasn't a paedophile' with extremely controversial take

Warning: This article contains discussion of sexual assault which some readers may find distressing.

US journalist Megyn Kelly is facing backlash for seemingly suggesting that Jeffrey Epstein 'wasn't a paedophile'.

Earlier this week, Kelly appeared on an episode of The Megyn Kelly Show and discussed the topic of Epstein and his crimes, alongside guest Batya Ungar-Sargon, revealing that she'd been in contact with a friend who had 'an inside view' of the case and believed the disgraced financier was 'not a peadophile'.

"Jeffrey Epstein, in this person's view, was not a pedophile," she explained.

"This is this person's view, who was there for a lot of this, but that he was into the barely legal type. Like, he liked 15-year-old girls."

Kelly goes on to explain that she understands 'this is disgusting', but added that her friend who knows 'virtually everything' about Epstein had shaped her views on the case.

Epstein had been convicted of procuring a child for prostitution and sex trafficking in 2008, serving only 13 months in custody after securing a plea deal. He was later arrested and charged with sex trafficking minors and conspiracy to sex traffic minors but took his own life before the case could ever go to trial.

However, details of Epstein's sex crimes and alleged co-conspirators continue to dominate public discussion to this day, with the US government facing repeated calls to release all relevant information about the case.

Is Jeffrey Epstein considered a paedophile?

A convicted child sex offender whose victims are reported to be as young as 14 years old, Epstein is widely considered to be a paedophile.

However, Kelly's argument appears to hinge on the diagnostic definition of paedophilia, which is a recurrent sexual attraction to a prepubescent child aged 13 or under.

Ephebophilia has previously been used to describe sexual attraction to adolescents; however, people now apply the term paedophilia to all child sex offences which involve minors under the age of 18.

Kelly went on to reiterate that she was not trying to excuse Epstein's crimes, adding: "I'm definitely not trying to make an excuse for this, I'm just giving you facts.

"He wasn’t into, like, eight-year-olds. But he liked the very young, teen types who could pass for even younger than they were but would look legal to a passerby."

She then went on to reference alleged evidence that Epstein was in possession of 'tens of thousands of videos' of child pornography, saying that was the first time she thought 'Oh, no, he was an actual pedophile'.

"I don’t know what’s true about him, but we have yet to see anybody come forward and say, ‘I was eight, I was under 10, I was under 14, when I first came within his purview," she concluded.

"There’s a difference between a 15-year-old and a 5-year-old, you know?"

Kelly's comments have since been met with backlash online.

"Megyn Kelly is now out here arguing that Epstein’s crimes are 'different' if the girls were 15 instead of 5. Once you start grading child sex trafficking on a curve, you’re not exposing predators, you’re normalizing them," wrote one person on X, while a second added: "This is career-ending for Megyn Kelly. 15 year olds are CHILDREN."

This comes after Epstein made headlines in the past week due to several leaked emails from him in 2011 emerging, with him calling President Donald Trump 'borderline insane' and alleging that Trump 'knew about the girls'.

LADbible Group has approached a representative of Megyn Kelly for comment.

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact The Survivors Trust for free on 08088 010 818, available 10am-12.30pm, 1.30pm-3pm and 6pm-8pm Monday to Thursday, 10am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-3pm on Fridays, 10am-12.30pm on Saturdays and 6pm-8pm on Sundays.