MIAMI — Some big name advertisers are dropping Fox News personality Laura Ingraham after she criticized one of the Florida school shooting survivors on social media.
Ingraham, a right-wing host who landed a rare one-on-one interview with President Donald Trump last year, wrote on Twitter, “David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it.”
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
Hogg, a student a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who filmed students hiding from the gunman in their classrooms, was quick to respond, tweeting a list of a dozen advertisers and encouraging followers to immediately call them and ask them to drop Ingraham. Hogg has faced intense criticism from right-wing conservatives and gun advocates who have falsely called him a crisis actor following the Valentine’s Day shooting in Parkland that killed 17.
“Soooo @IngrahamAngle what are your biggest advertisers … Asking for a friend,” he wrote with the hashtag #BoycottIngramAdverts.
Soooo @IngrahamAngle what are your biggest advertisers … Asking for a friend. #BoycottIngramAdverts
— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) March 29, 2018
The online home goods store Wayfair, food company Nestle, travel website TripAdvisor and Rachel Ray’s dog food Nutrish all said they are removing their support from Ingraham.
Wayfair said in a statement that it supports “open dialogue and debate on issues. However, 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. We do not plan to continue advertising on this particular program.”
TripAdvisor says it does not “condone the inappropriate comments made by this broadcaster. In our view, these statements focused on a high school student, cross the line of decency. As such, we have made a decision to stop advertising on that program.”
A telephone message left for Nutrish was not immediately returned but the company tweeted it was in the process of removing ads from Ingraham’s show.
Ingraham apologized Thursday on Twitter, saying, “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.”
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
Ingraham tweeted that she thought she was the first to feature Hogg on her show after the shooting and added, “he’s welcome to come on my show anytime for a productive discussion.”
Hogg tweeted later Thursday that an apology to save advertisers wasn’t enough and that he’d only accept Ingraham’s apology if she denounced the way Fox News has treated his friends.
“It’s time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children,” Hogg wrote.
I 100% agree an apology in an effort just to save your advertisers is not enough. I will only accept your apology only if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I️ in this fight. It’s time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children. https://t.co/H0yWs4zMGk
— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) March 29, 2018
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