Megyn Kelly thinks Kim Petras’ Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover a turnoff for teen boys

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Megyn Kelly is piling on Kim Petras’ Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover, declaring that the magazine’s decision to use the transgender pop star will be a turnoff to teenage boys looking for some masturbation inspiration.

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“My understanding of the cover of the Sports Illustrated magazine is it has one main purpose and that’s for 15-year-old boys to spend some alone time with it in the bathroom,” Kelly said during an episode of The Megyn Kelly Show.

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Kelly — a mother of three — went on to add: “I’m thinking this isn’t the way to get that done.”

Petras, the German-born Grammy winner, joined actress Megan Fox, TV host Brooks Nader and 81-year-old Martha Stewart to front the annual edition of the popular magazine, which hit stores this week.

“They’ve got Megan Fox, who is amazing, very beautiful,” Kelly said. “But they’ve also got Martha Stewart … an elderly ex-con … she’s there, and there’s a trans person there. A biological male, who is some sort of singer … this is a dude.”

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Kelly — a mother of two boys, ages 9 and 13, and a 12-year-old daughter — went on to claim that Petras’ inclusion was another example of a man “coming in and taking over a spot that previously would have been given to a woman, once again.”

“I couldn’t help but think about the thousands of women who would’ve killed to have been on that cover,” Kelly’s guest, former Miss California Carrie Prejean, said. “To be on the cover of Sports Illustrated is like winning Miss America or Miss USA … I couldn’t help but think of those women who saw that, and thought, ‘Wow.’ First of all, he’s not even in shape, number one. Second of all, I looked at it and went, ‘Ew.’

“But these young men who are looking at this, imagine how they feel. Maybe they think, ‘Oh wow, I’m turned on by that.’ Could you imagine as a young man seeing that and being, ‘Well, I don’t know.’”

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“It’s like The Crying Game,” Kelly said. “It’s a fraud. It’s a bait-and-switch.”

“You just nailed. It’s a bait-and-switch. I think that’s the intention. It’s to confuse young men,” Kelly’s second guest, activist Britt Mayer, interjected. “That’s where we’re at. I saw [Petras] and with all the Photoshop, he looked like a beautiful woman on that cover. That is so dangerous. Men are going to see that and a lot won’t know it’s a dude … and now they’re attracted or did something in the bathroom to a man? What does that do to your sexuality and your reasoning through all this as a young man?”

Mayer went on to say it was “embarrassing” for the other cover models to be included “right next to a dude.”

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Kelly’s attack on Petras was met with muted enthusiasm online with one person asking, “Why does she care what turns on teen boys?”

“Stop acting like a hot trans woman is going to put off horny teens,” a second person swiped.

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Several other Twitter users joked whether teen boys still buy magazines. “It’s worth noting that most teenage boys don’t know what Sports Illustrated is,” one critic opined.

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A fourth person dismissed Kelly’s segment as “so catty it wouldn’t a bit in a ’90s comedy.”

SI’s Swimsuit issue was launched in 1964, and over the years supermodels like Kathy Ireland, Tyra Banks and Christie Brinkley have graced the cover.

Petras told SI she was “excited” to be featured as alongside such illustrious names.

“I was so excited when I got the call to be in Sports Illustrated. It’s very iconic, and a lot of very iconic people have done it before, so, big dream come true for me,” she told SI in an accompanying interview.

“I hope people take away from this that I look really hot and Sports Illustrated is cool.”

But the publication faced swift backlash when the cover was released, with many critics likening Petras’ inclusion to Bud Light’s recent partnership with trans activist Dylan Mulvaney.

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“This is a man,” Kingsley Cortes, chairwoman for the Washington, DC Young Republicans, wrote, sharing a capture of the Heart to Break singer’s cover.

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“Kim Petras is not there because of her popularity with SI readership, but because SI editorial despises its readership, just as Bud Light management despises its customer base,” one Twitter user shared. “This really pure class contempt. ‘Ha ha those dumb beer-drinking SI readers!’”

Several people questioned Petras’ inclusion in an issue that has historically showcased feminine beauty.

“If you are an adult and want to identify as a different gender, be my guest, but the recent trend for companies to feature and give top awards/spots to trans women instead of biological women is more than concerning,” one person wrote. “Why are biological women being replaced in these spaces by biological men once again? And where are all the feminists who championed this cause for decades? This is a targeted agenda …”

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But Petras’ talked-about cover garnered some support on Twitter.

“You’re just mad because she’s hotter than you — and less bitter,” one person snapped.

Petras made headlines earlier this year when she joined nonbinary pop star Sam Smith for a provocative performance of Unholy at the Grammy Awards.

Bathed in red and wearing a devil-horned top hat, Smith paraded around the stage surrounded by red-robed worshippers while Petras sang her portion of the song in a cage as a group of dancers wearing satanic headgear frolicked around her.

“This … is … evil,” Republican Sen. Ted Cruz shared on Twitter as he denounced the broadcast by linking to a post from conservative political commentator Liz Wheeler, who wrote: “Don’t fight the culture wars, they say. Meanwhile, demons are teaching your kids to worship Satan. I could throw up.”

mdaniell@postmedia.com