Advertisers Ditch Sean Hannity Over His Coverage Of Roy Moore's Alleged Pursuit of Teens
At least five companies have announced they will not advertise during Sean Hannity’s TV and radio shows following the host’s coverage of Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, who is accused of sexual misconduct with a 14-year-old.
Eloquii, a plus-size clothing retailer, was the first company to publicly distance itself from the right-wing personality, followed by 23 and me, Nature’s Bounty, Keurig and Realtor.com.
Representatives for most of the five companies, as well as Fox News, did not immediately return HuffPost’s requests for comment. A representative for Nature’s Bounty told HuffPost that the company hadn’t advertised on the show “since the summer.”
Hi there! Hannity is blocked from our advertising list. If we can help with anything else, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at social@eloquii.com.
— ELOQUII (@ELOQUII) November 10, 2017
We can confirm that we do not have advertisements running on this program.
— Nature's Bounty (@NaturesBounty) November 11, 2017
We’ve received inquiries RE: advertising on Hannity. We are not running TV advertising on Hannity. We continue to closely evaluate where we advertise.
— 23andMe (@23andMe) November 10, 2017
Angelo, thank you for your concern and for bringing this to our attention. We worked with our media partner and FOX news to stop our ad from airing during the Sean Hannity Show.
— Keurig (@Keurig) November 11, 2017
While we continually strategize on where we advertise on and offline, we are not currently, and will not be running TV ads on Hannity. @mmfa
— realtor.com (@realtordotcom) November 11, 2017
Hannity has come under fire in the last few days over his coverage of Moore, 70, who was the subject of a bombshell Washington Post report Thursday detailing allegations that he had relationships and made sexual advances on teenagers while he was in his early 30s. In the most serious charge, a 14-year-old said he molested her.
The report has prompted some Republican lawmakers to call on Moore to step down as the party’s nominee in Alabama’s Dec. 12 Senate election. Moore has repeatedly denied the allegations of sexual misconduct, though one of his comments to Hannity raised questions. He said on Hannity’s radio show Friday that he “generally” didn’t date teens during the time of the allegations.
Hannity apologized to viewers during his TV show Thursday after backlash over comments he made during his radio show earlier that day that appeared to dub Moore’s alleged sexual assault of the 14-year-old as “consensual.”
Sean Hannity is justifying Roy Moore’s conduct with teenage girls because, “it was consensual.” 😒 pic.twitter.com/AhETrsZLwP
— Mr. Smith (@GuardianRover) November 10, 2017
Hannity denied he was referring to Moore’s alleged sexual acts with a 14-year-old as “consensual,” but rather his interactions with 17- and 18-year-olds, since the age of consent in Alabama is 16.
“That one line was absolutely wrong,” Hannity said. “I misspoke.”
Minutes later, he continued the TV show by calling into question the credibility of sexual harassment accusers, seeming to perpetuate the myth that women often lie about their allegations.
″Now, I know, and this goes back to what you said, do people do it for money?” Hannity asked Mercedes Colwin, a Fox News legal analyst, during his TV show Thursday. “Do people do it for political reasons? Is that more common than people would think?”
Hannity’s remarks sparked backlash on social media, which prompted the five companies to reconsider advertising during his shows. His supporters called for a boycott of Keurig products on Twitter in response to the company’s decision to pull their advertising. But the hashtag campaign appeared to backfire.
Thank you, @Keurig, for doing the right thing and pulling your ads from Hannity's show.
Just in time for Christmas! 🎅🏾🎄 https://t.co/r2cdU0hpR0— Holly O'Reilly (@AynRandPaulRyan) November 11, 2017
lol #BoycottKeurig is a campaign in which republicans are more outraged at a coffee machine than at a child molester and his defense crew on Fox News.
— Colby Klaus thinks Jack should ban the Nazis (@colbyklaus) November 12, 2017
Don’t #BoycottKeurig, they pulled their ads from Hannity & deserve to be celebrated for it. @Keurig
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) November 12, 2017
Oh thank god I thought keurig actually did something wrong. Turns out I'm all the more happy to buy from them #BoycottKeurig
— Allison Given (@A_given_) November 12, 2017
This isn’t the first time advertisers have ditched Hannity. In May, numerous companies dropped his Fox News show from their advertising list, including Cars.com and Crowne Plaza Hotels, after he continued to promote a conspiracy theory about Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich’s death last year.
The advertising exodus comes amid a whirlwind of sexual harassment allegations against several Fox News employees, including Bill O’Reilly, who was forced to leave the network in April after numerous sexual harassment accusations against him.
This story has been updated with comment from Nature’s Bounty.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.