John Grisham’s child pornography comments spark uproar

Novelist John Grisham raised eyebrows on Wednesday after he criticised child pornography laws in the US. In an interview with The Telegraph, Grisham argued the country’s sentences for those who view such material are excessive.

“We have prisons now filled with guys my age. Sixty-year-old white men in prison who’ve never harmed anybody, would never touch a child”, he told reporter Peter Foster. “But they got online one night and started surfing around, probably had too much to drink or whatever, and pushed the wrong buttons, went too far and got into child porn”.

While Grisham later clarified that he believes “real paedophiles” deserve to be placed in prison, Twitter users lashed out at his defense of child pornography viewers.