MAGA trashes The New York Times for 2014 piece on pedophilia, Musk says ‘evil propaganda’

The New York Times faces backlash from MAGA for a 2014 editorial suggesting pedophilia is a disorder, not a crime. Musk was among those who slammed NYT

Updated on: Jan 17, 2025, 15:38:05 IST

By Sanya Jain

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In 2014, Margo Kaplan, a professor at Rutgers Law School, wrote a piece for The New York Times where she argued that pedophilia is a disorder, not a crime. Kaplan emphasises that pedophilia is not synonymous with child molestation and that individuals with pedophilia can live without acting on their impulses.

A 2014 article on pedophilia has left MAGA enraged. (Pixabay/Representative)

The decade-old editorial piece has now resurfaced online, with MAGA supporters trashing the publication.

NYT faces backlash

“MAGA” refers to the Make America Great Movement, popularised by Donald Trump, although the term is now synonymous with Trump’s political base. Backlash against the New York Times began conservative influencer Gunther Eagleman dug up the 2014 editorial on pedophilia, titled: “Pedophilia: A Disorder, Not a Crime”.

Elon Musk, Trump supporter and a part of his administration, added his own powerful voice to the backlash against the piece.

“The New York Times is evil propaganda,” wrote Musk.

Interestingly enough, Musk himself has come under fire in the past for using pedophile as an insult - in 2019, he lashed out at one of the rescuers of the Thai soccer team trapped in a cave, calling him “pedo guy.”

His X post slamming the NYT garnered 29 million views, and the backlash only grew from there.

Emma Katherine, host of The Imagination Podcast, slammed the NYT for “defending pedophiles.”

“It is NOT a ‘disorder’ - it IS A CRIME. The worst crime in history. WHY are you attempting to normalize pedophilia? This entire article is a blatant LIE. The ONLY ‘disorder’ here is that YOU are defending the most vile and violent sexual deviants that walk the planet,” she wrote.

X user Sean Feucht claimed that “the normalization of pedophilia and sexualization of our children” had always been the goal of The New York Times.

Some MAGA supporters also called on NYT to issue an apology and retract the piece, while its author also faced backlash.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sanya Jain
Sanya Jain is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times Digital. She has nearly a decade of experience in covering offbeat stories that speak to the everyday experience - from viral videos to human interest copies that spark conversation. Her interests stretch across business, pop culture, social media trends, entertainment and global affairs. Before joining Hindustan Times, Sanya spent two years with Moneycontrol and five years with NDTV. She holds an undergraduate degree in English literature from St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and a master’s in journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications, Mumbai. Sanya has a sharp eye for spotting emerging trends and looking for newsworthy angles to elevate viral posts into meaningful narratives. She was the first one, for example, to cover Narayana Murthy’s remark on 70-hour work weeks that sparked a national conversation. She is equally at ease writing about business leaders as about the common man, about issues of national importance and memes that amuse social media. Sanya enjoys speaking with content creators, newsmakers and entrepreneurs to transform everyday moments into engaging, slice-of-life stories that resonate with readers. When she is not working, Sanya can be found curled up with a good book. Born and raised in Lucknow, she has spent the last several years in Delhi. She is deeply interested in animal welfare and now spends a lot of her time running after her destructive orange cat.Read More

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