Last Thursday, Fox News host Sean Hannity offered a defense of sorts for Alabama senate Candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused by several women of sexual misconduct. During Hannity’s segment, he went so far as to question the motives of the female accusers in a similar manner as his former colleague Bill O’Reilly, who was ousted from Fox over sexual harassment allegations. It turns out that that kind of approach doesn’t sit well with advertisers.
As of Tuesday morning, 11 different corporate sponsors have pulled their ads from Hannity’s primetime Fox News show. This includes Hebrew National, Reddi Wip, Hubble Contacts, Volvo, 23andMe, Nature’s Bounty, Keurig, Realtor.com and more. Elsewhere, HelloFresh have announced that any ads of theirs seen during Hannity’s airtime were an “error.”
Fox News has clawed its way back from an early year ratings slump following the O’Reilly and Ailes scandals to reclaim the title of most-watched news network. However, this advertiser exodus isn’t going to help their reputation and it’s very possible that even more will follow.
Media Matters for America president Angelo Carusone has started a campaign to pressure advertisers to drop Hannity. He launched a similar effort back in May when Hannity reported on the unsolved 2016 murder of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich.
Hannity’s viewers, however, have responded to the general backlash by launching their own boycott campaign against Keurig. They have sent Hannity videos online of themselves smashing Keurig machines, which the Fox News personality has supported.
Fox News did not immediately respond to request for comment on Tuesday.
