Megyn Kelly offered a defiant defense of Russell Brand after the actor's rape conviction this week.
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Kelly → offer → conviction
Kelly, 55, invoked the late Charlie Kirk to cast doubt on a Monday ruling that found the 51-year-old actor guilty of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three more,
'You know, Samantha, all I can think of as I cover this case is my friend Charlie Kirk, who did interview Russell,' she told UK comic Samantha Pressdee while discussing the verdict on The Megyn Kelly Show Wednesday.
'
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she → invoke → Show
And as with virtually everything, Charlie saw the story correctly from the beginning,' Kelly continued.
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Kelly → see → beginning
Footage of Kirk's on-stage conversation with Brand at the Student Action Summit in Tampa, Florida, in August 2025 followed.
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Footage → follow → August
Kirk was heard telling the crowd in one snippet: 'The entire government is going after Russell; I hope you guys know that.'
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guys → hear → that
He added to Brand: 'You're under attack from the UK government on, I think, completely fake stuff.'
Kirk pointed to Brand's then-recent conversion to Christianity as proof the Forgetting Sarah Marshall star was being subject to a 'Satanic attack.'
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star → add → attack
He pointed out how, from Hebrew, the word 'Satan' can even be translated to 'the prosecutor' or 'deceiver.'
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word → point → prosecutor
Kelly cut in to offer her two cents, first claiming Kirk 'saw exactly what was happening to Russell.'
Megyn Kelly, 55, defended convicted rapist Russell Brand while discussing the UK's ruling against him with Samantha Pressdee, a UK comic said
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Kelly → cut → Pressdee
she had a respectful romantic encounter with Brand in 2006
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she → have → 2006
Kelly played a clip of Brand's conversation with the late Charlie Kirk at the Student Action Summit in Tampa, Florida, in August 2025 to bolster her argument.
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Kelly → play → argument
Kirk framed the allegations against Brand as baseless, at the time.
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Kirk → frame → time
He was killed a little more than a month later
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He → kill → ?
'There are demons out there, and the entire UK wants us to believe that Russell is one of them,' Kelly said, echoing one of Kirk's statements.
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Kelly → be → statements
She instead framed Brand as 'a big star with a lot of groupies who threw themselves at him.
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who → frame → him
'He did not have to perform non-consensual sex acts on women.
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He → have → women
He had hundreds, if not thousands of options for consensual sex,' Kelly continued, before commending Brand for publicly converting to Christianity in 2024.
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Kelly → have → 2024
'[He] found God, reformed himself, changed his political outlook, found someone he truly loved, had three children with her,' Kelly gushed.
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Kelly → find → her
Progressives, she said, 'are completely resistant to that narrative.
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she → say → narrative
The Catholic conservative maintained it was 'the new version of Russell' that 'they find truly deplorable.'
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they → maintain → Russell
'The old version of Russell, they completely supported, allowed, promoted - it was the new version that they objected to,' Kelly said.
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Kelly → support → that
Pressdee agreed, after maintaining she had a consensual 'romantic encounter' with the soon-to-be imprisoned star in 2006.
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she → agree → 2006
Kelly framed the dynamic as a 'double standard' and the case 'a political witch hunt.'
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case → frame → standard
Brand - sentenced to more than a decade in prison on Monday - spoke about the allegation during an appearance on the Megyn Kelly Show in April, where he framed his relationships with women as immoral rather than criminal
Brand was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison following a lengthy investigation that started in 2023 and resulted in charges being brought against the comedian who became a household name in the mid-2000s.
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who → sentence → mid-2000s
He was found guilty of raping a 21-year-old fan he picked out of the crowd after one of his Hammersmith Apollo gigs in 2009, and three counts of sexual assault.
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he → find → assault
Brand spoke about the then-allegations during an appearance on the Megyn Kelly Show in April.
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Brand → speak → April
He framed his behavior as immoral rather than criminal.
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He → frame → behavior
'I did sleep with a 16-year-old when I was 30,' he said at a point, addressing the relationship that became public when the Times of London and Britain’s Channel 4 published a joint investigation into him in 2023, paving the way for the criminal case.
'But when I was 30 I was a different person.
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I → sleep → case
I was a lot younger and I was an immature 30-year-old,' he added.
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he → add → ?
The UK probe centered on alleged incidents that occurred between 2006 and 2013 – the height of Brand’s fame.
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that → center → fame
The Daily Mail approached Kelly for comment.
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Mail → approach → comment
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