After a slew of high-profile departures from Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show after she opted to mock a Parkland shooting survivor, the conservative host made a remark tonight that was both unintentionally humiliating and exceedingly satisfying.
Ingraham’s show has lost approximately two dozen sponsors since Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School’s David Hogg called for a boycott against her after she attacked the 17-year-old over various college rejections. While speaking with a panel on tonight’s episode of “The Ingraham Angle,” where there normally would have been a commercial break, she instead says, “Fantastic segment but we got more though here. We’re going to go the whole show without a break!”
lmfao Ingraham just said at 10:15, when she would normally take a commercial break, "Fantastic segment but we got more though here. We're gonna go the whole show without a break" pic.twitter.com/7sF8OCCIaj
— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) April 12, 2018
While Ingraham tried to play off the fact that she has effectively alienated almost every one of her sponsors by berating a mass shooting survivor as a good thing – “we’re going to go the whole show without a break!” – the unwittingly embarrassing moment was certainly rife with subtext.
The boycott began when Hogg – along with the help of his friends, all of whom wield a lot of power with their social media followings – took to Twitter to demand Ingraham’s advertisers pull their sponsorship from her program.
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
As of now, the boycott includes IBM, Mitsubishi, Allstate, Blue Apron, Slimfast, Bayer, Honda, Ruby Tuesday, Liberty Mutual, Office Depot, Nestle, Wayfair, TripAdvisor, Nutrish, Expedia, Joseph A. Banks, Hulu, Stitch Fix, Atlantis Bahamas, Jenny Craig, Miracle-Ear, Entertainment Studios, and Johnson & Johnson.
Amid the exodus, Ingraham did attempt to issue a half-hearted apology to Hogg.
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, for his part, firmly rejected the transparent olive branch as a way to staunch the bleeding.
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
It seems Fox News finally found the silver lining to spewing filth so vile that it can’t even manage to promote hearing aids and Aspirin to its audience: now its viewers can watch commercial free.
Follow Brian Tyler Cohen on Facebook and Twitter.
