'He's everyone's favourite punching bag when it comes to young men,' Kelly said in Peterson’s defence
Former Fox News and NBC personality Megyn Kelly is running to Jordan Peterson’s defence after the conservative psychologist was brought to tears by Olivia Wilde’s assessment that he’s “a hero to the incel community.”
Edmonton-born Peterson appeared last week on an episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored and became emotional when the veteran newsman asked him about Wilde basing the film’s villain (played by Chris Pine) on his teachings.
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“We based (Pine’s) character on this insane man, Jordan Peterson, who is this pseudo-intellectual hero to the incel community,” said Wilde in a recent chat with fellow actor-turned-director Maggie Gyllenhaal for Interview Magazine.
In Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling, Pine stars opposite Florence Pugh and Harry Styles as the villainous Frank, the dictatorial founder of a utopian 1950s community and the man in charge of the mysterious Victory Project.
“(Incels are) basically disenfranchised, mostly white men, who believe they are entitled to sex from women,” Wilde said. “And they believe that society has now robbed them — that the idea of feminism is working against nature, and that we must be put back into the correct place.”
Peterson, Wilde added, “is someone that legitimizes certain aspects of their movement because he’s a former professor, he’s an author, he wears a suit, so they feel like this is a real philosophy that should be taken seriously.”
“Are you the intellectual hero to these people?” Morgan asked Peterson last week.
“Sure, why not. People have been after me for a long time because I have been speaking to disaffected young men, what a terrible thing to do that is,” Peterson replied getting visibly upset.
Kelly maintained that “disaffected young men” need someone like Peterson to articulate their feelings.
“I thought the marginalized were supposed to have a voice,” Peterson continued during his chat with Morgan, fighting back tears. “It’s very difficult to understand how demoralized people are, and certainly many young men are in that category. You get these casual insults, these incels — what do they mean? These men, they don’t know how to make themselves attractive to women, who are very picky, and good for them. Women, like, be picky. That’s your gift, man. Demand high standards from your men. Fair enough. But all these men who are alienated, it’s like they’re lonesome and they don’t know what to do and everyone piles abuse on them.”
During an appearance on her own podcast alongside columnist and podcaster Ben Shapiro, Kelly blasted Wilde for vilifying Peterson’s followers saying that young men need someone to speak up for them.
“I’ve been watching Jordan for a long time, and what’s been done to him. He’s everyone’s favourite punching bag when it comes to young men,” Kelly said. “But he’s been one of the few people speaking to young men (about) what’s been bothering them over the last few years.”
She continued, “There’s this movie making headlines for all sorts of reasons, called Don’t Worry Darling … this is a man-bashing film, from what I’ve been told. It’s got a #MeToo theme and it doesn’t look too favourably on men. The villain in the film, played by Chris Pine, is based on Jordan … the nerve of Olivia Wilde to refer to Jordan Peterson as a ‘pseudo intellectual’ as if she knows anything … I was at NBC when 12 Rules (for Life: An Antidote to Chaos) came out and people were like, ‘Let’s get him,’ and I asked what (the book) was about. Then I actually read it and thought, ‘This is brilliant. I don’t want to fight with him, I want to learn more from him’ … this woman clearly hasn’t listened to anything about Jordan Peterson … he was in tears over what she said.”
Kelly then talked about suicide rates in America and how men that are disenfranchised need an advocate. “In 2019, men accounted for 80% of all suicide deaths in America. All the studies also show that a majority of American men who die by suicide have no known history of mental health problems because they don’t talk about them. It’s not that they don’t have any mental health problems, they don’t talk about them. And when they do try to talk about them and listen to Jordan Peterson, subscribe to Jordan Peterson or anybody else speaking out about these issues, they get attacked.”
Kelly continued, adding that Peterson’s supporters were portrayed as “some sort of demon” in the movie before criticizing Wilde for not understanding the #MeToo movement.
“So screw her! As somebody who was at the inception of the #MeToo movement, I think I can say what those of us who were there at the beginning — and by the way, Olivia Wilde, you were not one of them, OK? You were not there — it was about just stopping men from making sexual favours at the office a condition of advancement…. It was never meant to bastardize men writ large. That’s what people like her are doing, and it’s having a serious negative effect.”
Elsewhere, in a separate conversation with comedian Bridget Phetasy, Kelly dredged up the outfits Jennifer Lopez and Shakira wore at the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show during a segment in which they discussed women “embracing their bodies.”
“I object to like J.Lo and Shakira showing their vag at the Super Bowl,” Kelly said (per the New York Post). “It’s gotta be situation appropriate.”
But Kelly praised former model Paulina Porizkova’s recent “no nonsense” bikini snap that went viral.
“She showed her bottom [and] she looks amazing,” Kelly said.
Kelly also hit out at the Kardashian family and their pursuit of global fame.
“The more I’ve watched them over the years, the more I think that it’s evil.”
Kelly added: “I don’t think this is healthy and that’s why I object to — it’s their disgusting vanity which is spread like wildfire in our society. The selfie culture is abhorrent to me.”
mdaniell@postmedia.com
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