Discussing the weekend pepper spray incident at UC Davis, Kelly began by explaining what pepper spray is. “It’s a derivative of actual pepper. It’s a food product, essentially,” said Kelly.
That was enough of a headline for Kelly to be pilloried on blogs and news sites. The comment even got the Taiwanese animation treatment.
Today, Kelly explains it this way: “[O'Reilly] wanted me to tell him what is in pepper spray, so I told him what the active ingredient is. That’s all I meant to convey… not that I meant it’s a snack!”
Kelly, who has carried around pepper spray herself “for years” didn’t expect the blow-back that came with the comments. “I think what happened was people didn’t watch the whole segment and assumed I was diminishing it. In no way did I mean to diminish what was happening.” [...]
“I think it would be clear if you watch the four minutes of TV,” Kelly tells TVNewser.