Major Advertiser Withdraws From NBC News Due To Interview With Sandy Hook Conspiracy Theorist Alex Jones

SANDY HOOK, CT — A major advertiser has decided to pull its ads from NBC News until after Megyn Kelly's interview with Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist Alex Jones hits airwaves Sunday, reports the Wall Street Journal. J.P. Morgan has pulled its local TV and digital ads from NBC News until after the interview airs. The company's Chief Marketing Officer Kristin Lemkau took to Twitter, saying she was "repulsed" by the network giving Jones airtime.

A local nonprofit has also decided to part ways with Kelly amid the interview. Sandy Hook Promise, started by parents who lost children during the 2012 massacre, has decided to drop NBC host Megyn Kelly from hosting an upcoming gala Wednesday The organization announced Monday that Kelly would no longer host the organization's Promise Champions Gala in Washington D.C.

“Sandy Hook Promise cannot support the decision by Megyn or NBC to give any form of voice or platform to Alex Jones and have asked Megyn Kelly to step down as our Promise Champion Gala host,” Nicole Hockley, the organization's co-founder and managing director, said in a statement. “It is our hope that Megyn and NBC reconsider and not broadcast this interview.”

Kelly's interview with Jones is set to air on June 18, but you can view a preview of the interview on the NBC News website. Critics of the interview say the network is using the pain of Sandy Hook victims to gain ratings. They condemned NBC for giving Jones, the founder of Infowars, a voice.

In a statement Tuesday, Kelly defended the interview, saying her goal was to shine a light on Jones.

"I understand and respect the decision of the event organizers but I'm of course disappointed that I won't be there to support them on Wednesday night," said Kelly in a statement posted on Twitter." I find Alex Jones's suggestion that Sandy Hook was "a hoax" as personally revolting as every other rational person does. It left me, and many other Americans, asking the very question that prompted this interview: how does Jones, who traffics in these outrageous conspiracy theories, have the respect of the president of the United States and a growing audience of millions? President Trump, by praising and citing him, appearing on his show, and giving him White House press credentials, has helped elevate Jones, to alarm of many. Our goal in sitting down with him was to shine a light - as journalists are supposed to do - on this influential figure, and yes- to discuss the considerable falsehoods he has promoted with near impunity."

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On his Infowars radio show Monday, Jones stated that he was "tired of being misrepresented" and that he did believe children died at Sandy Hook. Jones further asked the network not to air the interview on Father's Day, which is June 18.

Jones's website, Infowars, has run stories on the idea that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax. Jones himself issued a "Final Statement on Sandy Hook," in which he said the official story of the events of on Dec. 14 has "more holes than Swiss cheese" and that officials are "so scared of any investigation."

"There is some evidence that people died there. I don't know what the truth is, all I know is the official story of Sandy Hook has more holes in it than Swiss cheese," said the right-wing conspiracy theorist. .

Hundreds took to social media during and after the interview to criticize the network, using the hashtags #ShameOnNBC and #ShameOnMegynKelly and calling for a boycott of the network. In a tweet Sunday, Kelly stated that Trump's relationship with Jones was among her motives for having him on the show, including that Trump gave Infowars a White House press credential.

In a Facebook post Sunday, the Vicki Soto memorial fund expressed its disappointment in the interview, stating that Jones and his followers "have done nothing but make our lives a living hell for the last 4 1/2 years."

Cristina Hassinger, the daughter of Sandy Hook principal Dawn Hochsprung, who was killed while attempting to save students during the massacre, also reacted to the interview via Twitter.

Photo by: Dennis Van Tine/STAR MAX/IPx 2017 5/15/17 Megyn Kelly at The 2017 NBCUniversal Upfront in New York City. (Via the Associated Press)