Several major companies have pulled advertisements from Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show as a result.
Laura Ingraham, host of The Ingraham Angle on Fox News, has apologised after mocking a survivor of the Parkland school shooting on Twitter earlier this week.
On Wednesday, Ingraham posted a link to an article about teenager David Hogg (pictured above), who survived the mass shooting in Parkland in Florida on Valentine’s Day in which 17 people lost their lives.
Commenting on the link posted on her Twitter feed, Ingraham accused Hogg of whining about being rejected by the colleges and said that the rejection was predictable given his GPA (Grade Point Average) and acceptance rates.
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, who has become a prominent gun control activist since the shooting, is one of the founding members of the activist group Never Again MSD and has over 650,000 followers on Twitter, responded by calling on his followers to contact some of the major advertisers on Ingraham’s show in an effort to initiate a boycott.
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
Ingraham issued an apology on Twitter to Hogg and to “any of the brave victims of Parkland” for “any upset or hurt” her tweet may have caused and invited Hogg to return to her show at any time for “a productive discussion”.
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
Her apology, however, didn’t stop a number of major companies from pulling advertisements from Ingraham’s show on Fox News, with Nestlé, Hulu, Johnson and Johnson, Expedia and TripAdvisor amongst those to confirm that they had, or were in the process of, removing advertisements from the programme.
We’d like to confirm that we are no longer advertising on Laura Ingraham’s show and are monitoring all of our ad placements carefully.
— Hulu (@hulu) March 29, 2018
Hi, thanks for reaching out – we have no plans to buy ads on the show in the future.
— Nestlé US (@NestleUSA) March 30, 2018
In response to a post from the father of a girl who lost her life in the Parkland shooting, Hogg said he would accept the apology “only if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I in this fight”.
An apology to save your advertisers is not enough. What you did was disgusting. Our message for common sense gun reforms has won, and the those in opposition have gone negative. They need to pay a price for that. These kids have suffered enough.https://t.co/aNixXkErrI
— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) March 29, 2018
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
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge