SORRY SIGHT
Sponsors bail, so Fox’s Laura apologizes to teen
TOXIC TV talking head Laura Ingraham offered a tuchus-covering mea culpa Thursday after advertisers fled her Fox News show because she mocked a Florida high school shooting survivor.
Nestle, Johnson & Johnson, TripAdvisor, Hulu and Rachael Ray’s pet food company and home furnishing website Wayfair, announced that they were pulling their ad dollars from the show after Ingraham tried to Twitter-shame Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School senior David Hogg for getting turned down by four colleges.
In response, Hogg flexed his growing social media muscles, summoning his more than 600,000 followers to express their disdain for the conservative commentator to 12 of her advertisers.
The Fox host took refuge behind Jesus as she watched financial support bleed from her show.
“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 tweeted Thursday.
Ingraham added that any student “should be proud” of a 4.2 GPA, including Hogg. However, in her series of tweets, she noted that “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.”
It was too little, too late for TripAdvisor.
“In our view, these statements focused on a high school student, cross the line of decency. As such, we have made a decision to stop advertising on that program,” the company told The News.
Hogg also was uinmpressed with the apology. The high schooler echoed a tweet by Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was killed in the school shooting on Feb. 14: “I 100% agree an apology in an effort just to save your advertisers is not enough.
“I will only accept your apology only if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I in this fight,” Hogg added.
At least seven advertisers had dropped Ingraham.
Pharma giant Johnson & Johnson they would stop advertising prescription drug Stelara on the show, spokeswoman Carol Goodrich said. Ray’s pet food brand Nutrish said it is distancing itself from “The Ingraham Angle” after Hogg implored businesses to do so on Wednesday night.
“We are in the process of removing our ads from Laura Ingraham’s program,” the company tweeted at Hogg.
Personal shopper website Stitch Fix and Expedia also bolted Ingraham’s show.
“We have no plans to buy ads on the show in the future,” a Nestle spokesman said.
Hogg had tweeted the names of 12 “Top Laura Ingraham Advertisers” on Wednesday night, urging users to contact them.
Ingraham had previously made fun of Hogg after the teen gun control activist was rejected by certain colleges.
He did receive acceptance letters from Florida Atlantic University, Cal Poly and Cal State San Marcos.
“David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it,” Ingraham had tweeted Wednesday. “(Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA...totally predictable given acceptance rates.)”
The senior was in school when gunman Nikolas Cruz, a former student, opened fire and killed 17 people on Feb. 14.