Honest, paywall-free news is rare. Please support our boldly independent journalism with a donation of any size.
“Advertisers start jumping ship and suddenly Ingraham realizes that mocking the misfortunes of a teen gun violence victim might be over the line.”
That was what Vox’s David Roberts had to say about Fox News host Laura Ingraham’s apology to Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg on Thursday, which came around 24 hours after Ingraham mocked the 17-year-old student on Twitter for being rejected by several colleges.
In response to Ingraham’s tweet, Hogg put together a list of Ingraham’s top corporate advertisers and called on his more than 600,000 Twitter followers to pressure them to boycott Ingraham’s show.
Hogg’s campaign is already having an impact: As of this writing, at least three advertisers — TripAdvisor, Nutrish, and Wayfair — have announced that they are in the process of pulling advertisements from Ingraham’s show.
Apparently feeling the heat, Ingraham took to Twitter on Thursday and — citing “the spirit of Holy Week” — wrote: “I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused.”
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
Critics were quick to let Ingraham know they’re not buying the remorse.
“Laura Ingraham doesn’t have any shame. She just understands that she finally crossed a line that would cost her advertisers,” Brian Klass, a fellow at the London School of Economics, wrote on Twitter Thursday. “She could have apologized for ages after that horrible tweet. She only did after an advertiser bailed.”
Many others piled on, denouncing her invocation of “Holy Week” as an effort to obscure her attempts to assauge jumpy corporate sponsors:
“in the spirit of Holy Week, I will apologize once my show starts hemorrhaging advertising money” https://t.co/6xOzcL0xPZ
— Mark Follman (@markfollman) March 29, 2018
An important fundraising appeal: 10 Days to raise $50,000
Thank you for reading Truthout today. We have a brief message before you go.
Unfortunately, donations are down for Truthout at a time when media faces immense pressure. Yet, grassroots media is vital in the fight against Trump’s authoritarian reign. Our mandate to tell the truth, share strategies for resistance, and speak against fascism grows more urgent each day. We must appeal for your support.
If you can support Truthout with a one-time or monthly donation, you will make a significant impact on our work. Please donate during our fundraiser.