Advertisers distance themselves from Hannity after Moore coverage
Two companies have said they will no longer advertise during Fox News’s “Hannity” after critics called for the companies to pull their ads over Sean Hannity’s coverage of the sexual misconduct allegations against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore (R).
Realtor.com and Keurig both said they are stopping their ads from airing during the show after being questioned about the advertisements on Twitter. Neither company specifically said their decision was over Moore coverage, but only made the announcement in response to critics.
{mosads}“Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We are adjusting our media buy to no longer include this show placement. –MS,” Realtor.com wrote to a Twitter user on Friday who tweeted a clip of Hannity’s Fox News show at the company.
Keurig said in a tweet to the president of liberal group Media Matters for America that the company is stopping its ad during Hannity’s show.
“Angelo, thank you for your concern and for bringing this to our attention,” the Keurig account wrote to Angelo Carusone. “We worked with our media partner and FOX news to stop our ad from airing during the Sean Hannity Show.”
Another company, Eloquii, said Hannity is blocked from its advertising list, but did not specify on what medium.
Media Matters has for months tried to put pressure on Hannity’s advertisers. In May the group published a list of the Fox News host’s advertisers on its website.
The latest push comes after Hannity during his Thursday night show urged viewers not to rush to judgment regarding the allegations against Moore.
“Every single person in this country deserves the presumption of innocence,” Hannity said. “With the allegations against Judge Moore, none of us know the truth of what happened 38 years ago. The only people that would know are the people involved in this incident.”
Hannity also said Moore should drop out of the race if the allegations against him are true.
“If it’s true he should step aside and leave the Senate race,” Hannity said.
Hannity then interviewed Moore on Friday during his radio show, which is nationally syndicated.
Moore in the interview denied accusations leveled against him by a woman who said he initiated sexual contact with her when she was 14 and he was 32. The Washington Post reported the allegation and also included accounts from three other women who said Moore attempted to court them around the same time period, when they were between 16 and 18 years old.
In the same interview, Moore admitted he may have dated teenaged women at that point in his life, but said he did not “remember anything like that.”
-This post was updated on Nov. 12 at 4 p.m.