NEW YORK — Faced with a growing advertiser exodus, Fox News host Laura Ingraham apologized Thursday for a widely derided tweet in which she mocked Parkland survivor David Hogg.
“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,” Ingraham said on Twitter. “For the record, I believe my show was the first to feature David 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.”
Ingraham, a staunchly pro-Trump commentator, came under fire on Wednesday, when she tweeted out a story from the right-wing website Daily Wire about Hogg’s rejection from four different colleges.
“David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it,” she said. “(Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA…totally predictable given acceptance rates.)”
The backlash was swift and widespread, and Ingraham was denounced for ridiculing a teenager and survivor of a mass shooting.
“Laura Ingraham needs a few classes in compassion,” tweeted the author Stephen King.
Hogg, the 17-year-old senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas who has emerged as a leader in the nationwide movement for new gun laws following the shooting last month at the school, urged his followers on Twitter to contact advertisers for Ingraham’s prime time show on Fox.
At least two companies were prepared to pull ads from the show, “The Ingraham Angle,” in response to her tweet. Nutrish, the Rachael Ray-partnered dog food brand, said Thursday morning that it was “in the process of removing our ads from Laura Ingraham’s program.” TripAdvisor told HuffPost that it, too, “made a decision to stop advertising on that program.” The Daily Beast reported that online retailer Wayfair has also decided to remove its ads from Ingraham’s show.
By Thursday afternoon, after the companies announced their decisions, Ingraham took to Twitter to praise Hogg, saying that any “student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA.”
