Megyn Kelly wondered last week if convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was perhaps “not a pedophile,” because he victimized teenagers instead of younger children. On Sunday night, John Oliver had one request for viewers if they ever caught him using that logic: “kill me.”
To kick off his season finale, the HBO host did as he always does, and quickly ran through some of the bigger headlines of the week. That included the release of emails from Jeffrey Epstein, in which President Trump is referred to by name several times.
“The White House has been in damage control mode ever since, even insisting that the emails prove Trump did nothing wrong, which they very much do not,” Oliver said stifling a laugh. “But perhaps the boldest attempt to spin these revelations came from Megyn Kelly who, for some reason, felt it was important to make one thing clear.”
At that, a clip of Kelly began playing, in which she reminded viewers that she knows someone “very, very close to this case who is in a position to know virtually everything.” According to that person, Kelly parroted, Epstein wasn’t a pedophile, because he was into “the very young teen types that could pass for even younger.”
“You can say that’s a distinction without a difference,” Kelly said. “I think there is a difference. There’s a difference between a 15-year-old and a 5-year-old, you know? It’s just whatever.”
“Yeah, that clip starts with ‘I know someone who’s super in the middle of all the Epstein s–t’ and it somehow gets sketchier from there!” Oliver marveled as the clip ended.
The host then tried to walk himself through the logic of bringing up this distinction, but couldn’t quite grasp why Kelly was trying to make this point.
“Look, I am clearly no stranger to sharing upsetting numbers with my audience, but please do kill me if I ever start doing pedophile math!” Oliver pleaded.
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” returns in February for a new season.
