Host a ‘bully’
Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg says Fox News Channel host Laura Ingraham is a bully and that he is unmoved by her apology
UNITED STATES: Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg says Fox News Channel host Laura Ingraham is a bully and that he is unmoved by her apology after she called him out on Twitter for failing to gain admittance into some of his top college choices.
Hogg told CNN he believes Ingraham apologised to stop the bleeding after several major corporations announced they would not advertise on her show, The Ingraham Angle, which airs weeknights.
‘‘The apology . . . was kind of expected, especially after so many of her advertisers dropped out,’’ Hogg said. ‘‘I’m glad to see corporate America standing with me and the other students of Parkland and everybody else. Because when we work together we can accomplish anything.’’
Hogg cited other instances where he said Ingraham behaved like a bully, from a conflict with gays while she was at Dartmouth in 1984 to recently dismissing political comments by Lebron James by suggesting he ‘‘shut up and dribble’’.
‘‘It’s disturbing to know that somebody can bully so many people and just get away with it, especially to the level that she did,’’ Hogg said on CNN. ‘‘No matter who somebody is, no matter how big or powerful they may seem, a bully is a bully and it’s important that you stand up to them.’’
The controversy flared last week when Ingraham ripped Hogg on social media for failing to gain admittance to several schools – ‘‘and whines about it’’. Hogg struck back, listing some of Ingraham’s advertisers on Twitter and suggested his 700,000-plus Twitter followers complain to them.
Wayfair, Nestle, Tripadvisor, Hulu, Office Depot, Jenny Craig, Expedia and Johnson & Johnson were among companies that quickly distanced themselves from Ingraham’s show. As the list grew, Ingraham tweeted a peace offering.
‘‘On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologise for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland,’’ she said.
Hogg was unmoved.
‘‘I will only accept your apology only if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I in this fight,’’ he tweeted. ‘‘It’s time to love thy neighbour, not mudsling at children.’’
Ingraham announced on Saturday she was taking a week off from the show to spend time with her kids. Fox officials said her absence was scheduled before the controversy and that guest hosts had been lined up.
Hogg, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, was among a handful of classmates who made international headlines in the days after a teen gunman killed 17 people at his school on Valentine’s Day. Hogg, Emma Gonzalez and other students demanded safer schools and tighter restrictions on guns.
The group spearheaded a student walkout from schools across the country last month, and then the March for Our Lives, which saw more than a million people rally in all 50 states and in several cities around the world.