Megyn Kelly Melts Down Over MAGA Rapist’s Prison Sentence
The MAGA podcaster is not happy that her friend is facing justice.
Megyn Kelly is furious that convicted MAGA rapist Russell Brand could spend more than 10 years in prison.
A British court convicted Brand last week of raping a woman and sexually assaulting three others between 2004 and 2009. On Monday, Judge Joel Bennathan sentenced the MAGA comedian to 10 years and six months in prison. The trial involved accusations from six women over incidents between 1999 and 2009; the jury acquitted Brand of two additional rape charges and one attempted indecent assault charge.

Russell Brand and Megyn Kelly on Megyn Kelly Today, Oct. 3, 2017.
Nathan Congleton/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Kelly has maintained a staunch defense of Brand throughout the trial. The right-wing podcaster said she first met the “charming” Brand at NBC, where she hosted a short-lived show from 2017 to 2018 before stepping down after defending her use of blackface. Brand also appeared as a guest on The Megyn Kelly Show in April 2026, three years after allegations against him surfaced.
After his sentencing, Kelly trivialized her buddy’s crimes on her podcast.
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“Good lord,” she said. “Ten and a half years in prison. He grabbed a boob. He kissed a lady. He sniffed a lady, and he had backdoor sex with a woman who licked his back door before she was even introduced to him. He is going to prison for 10 and a half years for that. This is insane.”

Russell Brand was sentenced to over 10 years in prison.
James Manning/Getty Images
She reiterated her scathing opinion later in the same rant, adding that the judge’s ruling was “political.” Kelly then lapsed into a monologue about how she believes the U.K.’s justice system unfairly targets white men and lets non-white immigrants who commit similar crimes walk free.
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“Russell Brand, for grabbing boobs, kissing, sniffing, and having that kind of sex with a woman who consented to vaginal sex with him seconds beforehand... he’s going to jail for 10 years,” she said. “This is an outrage. This is an obvious double standard. And if you needed any further proof that this is a political witch hunt against Russell Brand, that judge just gave it to us. Good gracious.”
“This is a country that let how many of these immigrants who would come into their country rape young white girls with impunity for years?” she continued. “They did nothing for the vast majority of those child rapists.”
Russell Brand appears at Southwark Crown Court as his wife, Laura Brand, looks on while the judge sentences him to 10.5 years in prison in this courtroom sketch. REUTERS/Julia Quenzler TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Julia Quenzler/Reuters
Before embracing anti-woke, anti-vax, and pro-Trump ideologies, Brand was a well-known comedian who appeared in movies alongside household names like Adam Sandler and Kristen Bell. Around 2020, he began embracing right-wing rhetoric and conspiracy theories, eventually becoming a full-blown MAGA groupie.
Kelly accused Judge Bennathan of bias against right-wing darling Brand. She claimed the judge “had a finger on the scale” from the start of the trial, pushing results toward a guilty verdict. Kelly also blamed Brand’s convictions on the media’s coverage of the allegations and trial.
Bennathan “clearly didn’t like Russell, and neither does the press,” she claimed. “If you were to read the articles about Russell’s case, his verdict and his sentencing over the past three days, it is clear that they are treating him like he is one of the most prolific sexual predators ever to roam the earth.”
Six women testified against Brand during the trial.
Hannah McKay/Reuters
Kelly also tore into one of Brand’s victims, criticizing the woman, who “did not show up to read her victim impact statement, possibly because she knew we would all be rolling our eyes on this made-up claim.”
Instead, a prosecutor read the statement.
“She said she was so emotionally damaged by that incident that she had to leave her job and return to live with her parents for an unspecified period of time,” Kelly ranted. “From her statement: ‘It’s something I carry with me every day, and it often feels never-ending.’”
Kelly made her stance perfectly clear: “I don’t believe you,” she said.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed investigations are continuing regarding two further allegations of rape made against Brand, one of which came from a woman who dated Brand when she was 16 years old, which is the age of consent in the U.K. Brand confirmed he had slept with the 16-year-old on Kelly’s show in April. At the time, Brand was 30.
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