Advertisers drop Laura Ingraham’s show one-by-one yesterday after she was accused of mocking David Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland school shooting. Seven companies confirmed pulling advertising from Ingraham’s show, The Ingraham Angle, on Fox, after Hogg asked his Twitter supporters to boycott the 12 companies that sponsored the show.
It all started on Wednesday when Ingraham mocked Hogg, 17, on Twitter for “whining” about being rejected from several colleges.
David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA…totally predictable given acceptance rates.) https://t.co/wflA4hWHXY
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 28, 2018
In direct response to her tweet, Hogg, an advocate for gun-control policies, listed the 12 companies who sponsor Ingraham’s show and asked his supporters to contact each of them and demand they boycott her show.
Pick a number 1-12 contact the company next to that #
Top Laura Ingraham Advertisers
1. @sleepnumber
2. @ATT
3. Nutrish
4. @Allstate & @esurance
5. @Bayer
6. @RocketMortgage Mortgage
7. @LibertyMutual
8. @Arbys
9. @TripAdvisor
10. @Nestle
11. @hulu
12. @Wayfair— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) March 29, 2018
Seven of the companies – TripAdvisor, Wayfair, Hulu, Nutrish, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle and Stitch Fix – did just that announcing on Twitter that they were pulling their ads from the show. Expedia was the eighth company to confirm it would cut ties with Ingraham, but declined to say when, according to the The New York Times.
TripAdvisor responded that it did not “condone the inappropriate comments made by this broadcaster.”
“We also believe Americans can disagree while still being agreeable, and that the free exchange of ideas within a community, in a peaceful manner, is the cornerstone of our democracy,” a company spokesman said. “In our view, these statements focused on a high school student cross the line of decency.”
Nutrish, which is owned by Rachael Ray, said “The comments she has made are not consistent with how we feel people should be treated.”
Wayfair directly responded to Ingraham’s tweet about Hogg tweeting, “The decision of an adult to personally criticize a high school student who has lost his classmates in an unspeakable tragedy is not consistent with our values.”
And Hulu tweeted, “We are no longer advertising on Laura Ingraham’s show and are monitoring all of our ad placements carefully.”
After many of her advertisers started ending their sponsorship with Ingraham, she offered an apology to Hogg by saying he “should be proud of a 4.2 GPA” and inviting him to be a future guest on her show.
Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA —incl. @DavidHogg111. On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland. For the record, I believe my show was the first to feature David…(1/2)
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 29, 2018
… immediately after that horrific shooting and even noted how “poised” he was given the tragedy. As always, he’s welcome to return to the show anytime for a productive discussion. WATCH: https://t.co/5wcd00wWpd (2/2)
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 29, 2018
Hogg’s response to Ingraham’s apology asked the host to “denounce” the way Fox has treated the survivors of Parkland.
“I will only accept your apology only if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I in this fight. It’s time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children,” Hogg said on Twitter.
While Hogg was glad that some of the companies pulled their advertisements from Ingraham’s show, he said this is “just the beginning.”
“We can show that if you continue to bully the students that survived a mass murder, there’s going to be consequences,” Hogg said. “Deal with the issues, not the individuals.”
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