Patton Oswalt still thinks it’s crazy he was briefly suspended on Bluesky for going after Megyn Kelly’s “finessing” of pedophilia earlier this month.
While speaking on Vulture’s “Good One” podcast Wednesdsay, the comedian quickly got into the matter with host Nate Jones, explaining that he probably “should have been a little funnier about it,” but responding to Kelly’s widely denounced take on Jeffrey Epstein’s sex offenses with “Wood chipper, feet first,” was all he could muster at the time.
“Every now and then, it is very, I think, honest and helpful when a a comedian just goes, ‘I can’t even make a joke about this. I’m just going to be disgusted. I know I’m supposed to be cool and amused, but I’m just disgusted,’” Oswalt said of the incident.
“It is crazy,” Oswalt added of his punishment. “If I had shared the clip of her defending – or I’m sorry, and I’m going to get this right – she’s not defending pedophilia, she’s finessing it … Serious publications that are like, ‘Well, what does it really mean to –‘ Oh my god. I know maybe I should have been a little funnier about it, but every now and then something is so awful that you’re just like, ‘I can’t.’”
Watch the full interview below:
Oswalt got access back to his Bluesky account on Nov. 17 after being suspended for his “wood chipper” post for three days. When he announced his return, his apology was laced with word choices that called back to the post that earned him the suspension in the first place.
“First off, my suspension has ended,” he wrote. “Got a little harsh with a post a few days ago but I didn’t have my feet on the ground and I’m sorry if I offended anyone. Will try to be more chipper. Knock on wood!”
The kerfuffle came about following Kelly’s reaction to the release of the Epstein files and their then-impending House vote. The conservative podcaster said she was unsure if the term “pedophile” applied to Epstein based on things she had heard and the fact that he was more into the “barely legal type” rather than kids under the age of 10.
“As for Epstein, I’ve said this before, but just as a reminder, I do know somebody very, very close to this case who is in a position to know virtually everything,” Kelly said. “Not everything, but virtually everything. And this person has told me from the start years and years ago that Jeffrey Epstein, in this person’s view, was not a pedophile.”
She went on to say that he was into the “barely legal type” but there were not reports of him being into “8-year-olds” only that he preferred “the very young teen types that could pass for even younger.”
“Yeah, so I don’t know what’s true about him, but we have yet to see anybody come forward and say I was under 10, I was under 14 when I first came within his purview,” Kelly added. “You can say that’s a distinction without a difference. I think there is a difference. There’s a difference between a 15-year-old and a 5-year-old, you know?”
On Wednesday’s “Good One,” Oswalt provided more context to his reaction and suspension.
“Megyn Kelly went on her show and basically defended pedophilia … What she said was so disgusting, and I maybe tweeted something violent, and they said this does not meet with community rules,” Oswalt said, adding that he was given the option to protest the suspension and decided “take the hit” instead.
“We are at a point in this country where people, again, we’re finessing pedophilia,” he said. “What in the hell, the f—k is going on? This is a nightmare world.”
