Supporters of President-elect Donald Trump are using online retailer Amazon to attack Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly through harsh reviews of her new book.
More than 100 negative one-star reviews appeared on the Amazon page selling Kelly’s memoir Settle For More, within hours of its Tuesday release.
Many of the comments came through a link on a pro-Trump Reddit forum called “The_Donald.” While the forum uses a Trump-Pence logo from the election campaign, it has no official association with the president-elect.
The forum instructed users to trash Settle for More. One post said: “Megyn Kelly’s new book on Amazon (link included). It would be a shame if her biased reporting was reflected in the customer reviews!” The forum mounted a similar campaign against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s last book.
The rapid spread of negativity toward Kelly’s book shows that many Trump fans have not forgiven her for her questioning of him during the campaign. It also underscores how no platform — even an online retailer — is off-limits for a mobilized political force that wants to target a perceived opponent.
Executives at Harper Collins noticed the unusually high number of negative reviews —� with one star out of a possible five — for Settle for More by midday Tuesday, just hours after the book became available. The publisher made only a few advance copies available.
“It has the hallmarks of an orchestrated effort to discredit the book and our author Megyn Kelly,” said Tina Andreadis, senior vice president and director of publicity for HarperCollins. “We have brought it to the attention of Amazon.”
Amazon, which did not respond to a request for a comment, had removed many of the reviews by Wednesday. But the page still has a high number of harsh comments for a celebrity tome that has just gone on sale.
The negative reviews can be potentially damaging to the success of Settle for More, as more than 50 percent of a best-selling book’s sales come through Amazon. Kelly received a $6 million advance from HarperCollins to write the book.
Amazon users do not need to buy a book in order to post a review. The reviews from actual customers are given a “verified purchaser” designation, and those appear to have been left on the page for Kelly’s book.
“Confused as a feminist, lacking as a ‘journalist.’ Now she can add ‘failed as an author,’” said one reviewer identified as One Woman’s Opinion.
Kelly is no stranger to the online wrath of Trump’s most ardent supporters.
A prime time anchor on Fox News Channel since 2012, Kelly became a household name after putting tough Republican primary debate questions to Trump about his past behavior toward women. Trump responded with hostile remarks about Kelly, including one that suggested she was menstruating during the debate held in August 2015. He used Twitter to attack her, calling her a bimbo and questioning her credibility as a journalist. Trump’s supporters piled on, unleashing a torrent of vicious posts. The candidate retweeted many of those remarks to his millions of Twitter followers.