Laura Ingraham, the Fox News host who told Lebron James to “shut up and dribble,” fired off another inflammatory tweet last week.
The victim in question was David Hogg, a student from Parkland, Florida and spokesman for the #neveragain movement.
Hogg had used social media to talk about his rejection from several universities, namely large public schools in California like UCLA.
Ingraham pounced on Hogg’s venting, and posted the following tweet on Twitter: “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).”
Hogg responded rapidly to Ingraham’s attack. Using his newfound fame and influence, Hogg urged on his 600,000 followers to boycott Ingraham’s show and called upon advertisers to drop their advertising on her show.
The companies immediately responded. Eight companies, including big name brands Hulu and Johnson & Johnson, removed their ads from Ingraham’s show.
As the fallout continued to grow following her remarks, Ingraham attempted to backtrack the following day. “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,” she stated, and offered an invitation for Hogg to join her on the show.
However, Hogg not only rejected her invitation, but her apology as well. The 17-year-old was unimpressed by the apology and believed the Fox News host apologized only to save her advertiser base.
He continued to comment on the boycott, stating, “We can show that if you continue to bully the students that survived a mass murder, there’s going to be consequences.”
In response, Ingraham took a vacation. As ad time continued to decrease and controversy continued to boil, the Fox News host announced that she would take a weeklong break, mirroring the vacation former Fox news Host Bill O’Reilly took after facing charges of sexual harassment. O’Reilly never returned to the network.
However, despite the apparent efficacy of Hogg’s boycott campaign, other news hosts questioned his methods.
Bill Maher, a liberal news host on HBO, derided Hogg for his actions while heaping scorn onto Ingraham. He commented on Ingraham, stating she was “a deliberately terrible person, saying horrible things,” but also commented on her right to voice her opinions. “I think those kids did a great thing. They put this issue in a place we’ve never had it before. And I wish them success. But if you are going to be out there in the arena and make yourselves the champions of this cause, people are going to have the right to argue back.”
While the ethicality of Hogg’s boycott might remain in question, its effectiveness thus far has been quite clear. Hogg attacked back against Ingraham and demonstrated the growing influence he wields. Hogg showed, if nothing else, that attempts to bully the youth movement rising in this country would not leave them silenced.
