Fox News host Sean Hannity told Laura Ingraham on Monday night that he no longer tweets for himself and outsources digital peacekeeping efforts to his staff.
“I gave it up to my staff. I don’t even have access to any of it,” he said of his highly followed social media accounts. He even noted he has to “ask permission” if he wants to tweet anything himself.
Prior to this strategy, Hannity said he would “stay up late, have a couple of cocktails,” and then “start a fight with Humpty Dumpty or Jimmy Kimmel.” (Humpty Dumpty is Hannity’s nickname for Brian Stelter, CNN anchor and chief media correspondent.)
Hannity was known for his online antics and would use his Twitter account to directly confront others in media — including this reporter once. His advice to Ingraham comes after her own Twitter activity has caused advertiser boycotts of her Fox News Show.
Ingraham apologized to Parkland, Florida, school shooting survivor David Hogg in 2018 after he called on people to boycott her advertisers because she accused him of whining.
In a prior tweet that quickly went viral, Ingraham said Hogg was “rejected by four colleges to which he applied and whines about it.” Hogg called for advertisers to boycott her, and a number of them — including TripAdvisor, Wayfair and pet-food maker Nutrish — dropped Ingraham.
10 Celebs Who Follow Way Too Many People on Twitter (Photos)
Even for the most Twitter-obsessed of us, we've all been through those spring cleaning periods where we decide to tidy up our followers. But a handful of celebrities have no qualms when it comes to following people en masse. So how many is too many? We know it when we see it. If you're on Twitter with even semi-regularity, it's likely that these people will follow you back, or maybe they already do.
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Melissa Joan Hart - @MelissaJoanHart - 192K Following, 721K Followers
Melissa Joan Hart is a massive Alabama football fan, and if you want a follow, you might consider showing your support for the team. Or better yet, commit to be a player there.
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Anthony Scaramucci - @scaramucci - 304K Following, 862K Followers
Anthony Scaramucci follows nearly one third of those who follow him, including TheWrap and many of its staffers. It's not just journalists he follows in that 300,000 either.
Katy Perry still has the edge over Bieber in total followers, but then she follows just more than 200 people compared to Justin's 316,000. Still, it's a small fraction of the millions who've followed him back.
Britney might need to step up her following game, because in 2017 she fell out of the Top 10 most-followed people on Twitter, behind Kim Kardashian West.
You may think Soledad O'Brien is following way too many people to notice, but believe it or not, she's payingattention.
Soledad O'Brien
Barack Obama - @BarackObama - 625K Following, 100M Followers
Obama is the third most followed person on Twitter. He's been criticized in the past for who he follows, but that hasn't stopped him from adding more to his stable.
Taye Diggs may be the first famous example of an over-follower. After his immense number of follows became an Internet mystery in 2014, he explained he hired a "social network dude" who followed people for him and used Twitter as a news "ticker" rather than just to disseminate information. And that ticker keeps getting more dense.
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Yoko Ono - @yokoono - 932K Following, 5.04M Followers
Back in 2011, Yoko Ono held the record for following the most people on Twitter, even surpassing President Obama.
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Jose Bautista - @JoeyBats19- 988K Following, 1.27M Followers
The king of bat flips is also one of the kings of Twitter. The Toronto Blue Jays player tweeted that he'll follow anyone who gives him a retweet or talks about baseball and raises awareness of the game.
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Lil B THE BASEDGOD - @LILBTHEBASEDGOD - 1.69M Following, 1.54M Followers
More so than the rapper himself, it's Lil B's alter ego The BasedGod that has cultivated a network of memes and emojis that have made him Internet royalty, and the rapper has returned the favor to all his followers and then some.
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How many is too many? Just ask Anthony Scaramucci, Taye Diggs and Yoko Ono
Even for the most Twitter-obsessed of us, we've all been through those spring cleaning periods where we decide to tidy up our followers. But a handful of celebrities have no qualms when it comes to following people en masse. So how many is too many? We know it when we see it. If you're on Twitter with even semi-regularity, it's likely that these people will follow you back, or maybe they already do.
Getty Images
Getty Images
