Don’t worry, Laura Ingraham; the advertisers on your Fox News show might be having second thoughts about sponsoring you, but Piers Morgan is in your corner.
British media personality Morgan came to Ingraham’s defense on Monday, saying that there was an “absurd over-reaction” to her tweet about Parkland school shooting survivor and gun control advocate David Hogg.
Responding to a Daily Mail report that Fox News planned to keep Ingraham on the air despite widespread criticism of the tweet, Morgan wrote, “Of course @IngrahamAngle should stay on air. Absurd over-reaction to a badly worded tweet for which she quickly apologized.”
“The Ingraham Angle” host found herself in hot water last week when she tweeted that Hogg “whines about” his rejection by UCLA and several other colleges to which he had applied.
“David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA…totally predictable given acceptance rates.),” she tweeted.
Hogg responded by naming 12 of Ingraham’s top advertisers and suggesting a boycott of them in a tweet (though one that actually misspelled the network host’s name).
Following Ingraham’s tweet, a number of sponsors, including Liberty Mutual, Office Depot, Miracle-Ear, Jenny Craig, Principal investment group, Honda, Ruby Tuesday and Atlantis resort opted to stop advertising on Ingraham’s show.
Ingraham apologized for the tweet, writing, “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. However, on March 31, Ingraham announced that she was taking next week off for what she described as a pre-scheduled Easter vacation with her children. The timing of her announcement had many observers wondering if the Fox News host is trying to get out of the way of the boycott effort led by Hogg.
On Monday, Fox News co-president Jack Abernethy asserted that Ingraham will return to the cable news outlet, saying, “We cannot and will not allow voices to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts. We look forward to having Laura Ingraham back hosting her program next Monday when she returns from spring vacation with her children.”
Despite Morgan’s defense of Ingraham, Morgan has been a vocal advocate for gun control, calling out President Donald Trump point-blank for what Morgan called Trump’s “gutless surrender to the NRA.”
Of course @IngrahamAngle should stay on air. Absurd over-reaction to a badly worded tweet for which she quickly apologised. https://t.co/AJRrzynHO9
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) April 3, 2018