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Bestselling Author John Grisham Raises Eyebrows With Comments About Child Porn, Then Offers Apology

Oct 16, 2014  •  Post A Comment

Writer John Grisham, whose novels have become a staple of feature films — “The Firm,” “The Pelican Brief,” “The Client” and “A Time to Kill,” to name a few — got some blowback over controversial remarks he made about child pornography and sex offenders.

CNN reports that Grisham said in an interview with the U.K. publication The Telegraph: “We have prisons now filled with guys my age, 60-year-old white men, in prison, who’ve never harmed anybody (and) would never touch a child. But they got online one night and started surfing around, probably had too much to drink or whatever, and pushed the wrong buttons and went too far and got into child porn. … They deserve some type of punishment, but 10 years in prison? There’s so many of them now, sex offenders … that they put them in the same prison, like they’re a bunch of perverts or something.”

His comments sparked outrage and stirred up a firestorm on the Internet — including a series of criticisms posted to his Facebook page. Here’s one example, from a poster named John Kelly: “How do you think child porn is made? Someone is still getting hurt you imbecile. I’m sad to say that I will never purchase, nor consume, one of your books ever again. I am disgusted.”

Grisham later backed off and offered this apology: “Anyone who harms a child for profit or pleasure, or who in any way participates in child pornography — online or otherwise — should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. My comments made two days ago during an interview with the British newspaper The Telegraph were in no way intended to show sympathy for those convicted of sex crimes, especially the sexual molestation of children. I can think of nothing more despicable. I regret having made these comments, and apologize to all.”

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