Media Matters President Angelo Carusone says he is not letting up on his campaign to pressure brands that advertise on Sean Hannity, telling TheWrap that his ultimate goal was to oust the conservative commentator from Fox News.
“Sean Hannity is uniquely destructive in the media landscape right now. His extremism, persistent lies, conspiracies and attacks on women that speak out against sexual misconduct warrant some kind of accountability,” said Carusone. “What Hannity does is so volatile and reckless that I don’t think he should be at Fox News any longer.”
On Monday, Hebrew National, Volvo, Hubble Contacts and Reddi Wip joined the DNA testing service 23andMe and Nature’s Bounty, who said they were withdrawing ads from Hannity’s primetime Fox News show, in addition to the previously announced moves by Keurig, Realtor.com, and the plus-size fashion label Eloquii. Meanwhile, two other advertisers, HelloFresh and TripAdvisor, clarified that any ads that run during his show were done in “error.”
Spread the word! Confirmed: @hubblecontacts (which was actually one of Hannity's most frequent advertisers) says that they have "no future plans to advertise on Hannity."
— Angelo Carusone (@GoAngelo) November 13, 2017
Another. @HelloFresh suggests any ads that ran on Hannity's show were run in error. They are working with media buyer to rectify. Excellent work all and kudos to @JordanUhl. Onward! pic.twitter.com/NClbZUyjRO
— Angelo Carusone (@GoAngelo) November 13, 2017
Confirmed: @TripAdvisor says any ads that ran on Hannity's show were run in error and that it's being addressed. Accordingly, I'm scratching them off the Hannity list since ads shouldn't run there anymore. https://t.co/t8qlloynzQ
— Angelo Carusone (@GoAngelo) November 13, 2017
Carusone said that — as with Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly — advertiser pressure was necessary in order to “force” Fox News to act.
“I don’t see how he can partner with Bill O’Reilly the way that he does or gin up conspiracies the way that he has in order to help Trump and reconcile that with having a platform like the one he has on Fox News, even with as disreputable as it is,” said Carusone. “Fox News should have set some very basic standards for Hannity. They didn’t. Just like they didn’t with O’Reilly or Glenn Beck. With both of those, Fox News needed to be forced to act.”
In addition to the latest brands, Keurig, Realtor.com, Eloquii, 23andMe and Nature’s Bounty have also dropped Hannity’s show.
For his part, the Fox News opinion host has not taken the news lying down. On Twitter, Hannity has railed against the pressure campaign and trained particular fire at Keurig, retweeting news of videos from his supporters smashing their Keurig machines.
https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/929913916670599168