Six companies have either pulled ads or publicly distanced themselves from Fox News’ Hannity after the host was criticized for an interview with Republican Alabama Senate candidate and accused child molester Roy Moore.
Six companies have either pulled ads or publicly distanced themselves from Fox News’ Hannity after the host was criticized for an interview with Republican Alabama Senate candidate and accused child molester Roy Moore.
Though most of the non-advertisers didn’t give specific reasons for their absence from Hannity, their decisions were disclosed in responses to complaints about Sean Hannity ’s radio interview with Moore Thursday. E*Trade, Realtor.com, Eloquii, 23andme, Nature’s Bounty and Keurig all responded on Twitter to the complaints.
In response to a query from Angelo Carusone of the watchdog group Media Matters, coffeemaker company Keurig responded, in part, “We worked with our media partner and FOX news to stop our ad from airing during the Sean Hannity Show.”
Other company responses:
When Media Matters followers questioned E*Trade’s advertising on the show, Carusone tweeted “CONFIRMED: No more @etrade ads on Hannity’s show. You can move on to another advertiser.”
The campaign didn’t come without blowback, though. Hannity supporters began a fierce campaign of their own, particularly targeting Keurig. Hannity retweeted some of his supporters, with this message atop his Twitter page all day Sunday:
Carusone, Hannity’s longtime thorn, then batted back against the boycott-boycotters:
Criticism of Hannity peaked after he referred on his radio show Thursday to “consensual” sex with 17- and 18-year-olds (age of consent in Alabama is 16), which, in the context of the discussion about Moore, was interpreted as including 14-year-olds.
Hannity said he misspoke and his comment was misinterpreted.
The distinction drew this half-hearted rapprochement with a big-name rival:
