VIDEO CLIP BELO ARTICLE
After the arrest of 30-year-old Brian Cole Jr., who is accused of planting pipe bombs in Washington, DC, Americans learned something else unsettling: the suspect wasn’t just interested in My Little Pony… he was immersed in the adult male subculture of so-called “Bronies.”
And Megyn Kelly is not mincing words.
On her podcast, Kelly blasted the shockingly large community of grown men who congregate at My Little Pony conventions—events many parents once assumed were wholesome kiddie fun.
“So my dear friend took her daughters, when they were young, to a My Little Pony convention… not understanding it’s actually for pervy men,” she said bluntly. “These conventions are not for little girls. They are for pervy men, many of whom are connected to the furry community.” She added, “What adult male is obsessed with My Little Pony?… I’m sorry. There’s something wrong with that person.”
Her conclusion was even harsher: “There’s something very off about those people, I think we can all agree. And I think that this guy’s interest in the community will come as a surprise to approximately no one.”
Cole certainly fit the profile Kelly warned about. According to reports, he:
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Posted 87 My Little Pony fan drawings
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Wrote pony-themed fanfiction, including horror crossovers
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Remixed My Little Pony songs (“Pony I Want to Be,” “Doin’ the Equestrian Jive”)
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Carried a My Little Pony backpack to high school
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Used online aliases like iDeltaVelocity and BlueVelocity to push his pony art
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Commented on pony characters with machine guns, writing: “Explosions are COOL!”
One of his fanfiction passages reads like a fever dream: “…the zombified ponies rising up from the ground, their decaying bodies, rotting flesh sliding off from their bones…”
Classmates recalled he was mocked for the backpack and toys; family members said he largely lived in his mother’s basement, mourning a deceased chihuahua and doing data entry for the family bail-bond business.
His grandmother emphasized that he was politically detached: “He’s not politically affiliated with anything… He says he don’t like either party.” She added he was “borderline autistic” with “the mind of a 16-year-old.”
Cole’s arrest marks the first major development in the five-year search for the pipe-bomb suspect who struck the night before the January 6 protests. Surveillance footage showed a hooded figure dropping a backpack outside each party headquarters—first the DNC at 7:54 p.m., then the RNC at 8:16 p.m.
The bombs were built with galvanized pipes, kitchen timers, and homemade black powder. Thankfully, none detonated.
Authorities found:
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His cell phone pinged near the scenes
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A license-plate reader captured his Nissan Sentra in the area
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He had purchased bomb components months in advance
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He allegedly stored the bombs at home
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He has now reportedly confessed
It wasn’t a brilliant new tip that cracked the case—just the FBI finally re-reviewing the evidence it already had. (Make of that what you will.)
Experts like Dr. Daniel Chadborn, who studies adult My Little Pony fandom, insist the Brony world isn’t inherently sexual, saying the subculture drew in “male fans… breaking gender norms.” But even he admitted he wasn’t shocked a troubled individual appeared in that space. “Someone who is disaffected is often going to look for spaces… for a sense of identity and belonging,” he said.
Translation: fringe online communities attract people who don’t fit anywhere else.
Kelly’s warning cuts deeper: parents have no idea what some of these “kid-friendly” fandoms have become.
