Conservative commentator Glenn Beck condemned the media for treating the student survivors and gun reform advocates from the Parkland, Fla., shooting last month like “gods.”
The comment from Beck came in response to David Hogg, one of the most outspoken voices following the shooting, initiating a boycott of advertisers from Fox News host Laura Ingraham’s show after she tweeted that Hogg was complaining about being rejected by four colleges.
In an interview between Beck and fellow conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly, O’Reilly opined that Ingraham should have avoided commenting on Hogg’s academic success, given the fact that she is an adult and Hogg is still a minor. Ingraham had chided the 17-year-old activist for being rejected from four colleges.
“I don’t think any commentator or adult should comment at all about any minor’s situation in a personal realm,” O’Reilly said. “The adult has the power and the perspective that the kid doesn’t have.”
Beck challenged O’Reilly’s position and said the situation was different than criticizing first daughter Chelsea Clinton in the 1990s because the Parkland survivors have “injected themselves in” and have been “held up by the media as these gods, and they have every fact wrong.”
After Ingraham accused Hogg of whining about his college rejections, Hogg asked his Twitter followers to boycott Ingraham’s advertisers.
Ingraham later apologized for her comments, but Hogg did not accept it and pointed out the apology only came after advertisers started pulling their ads from her show. He said he would “only accept your apology only if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I in this fight.”
Multiple advertisers have rescinded their support from Ingraham’s show following her tweet about Hogg’s college rejections, including Liberty Mutual, Nestle, Hulu, Expedia, and Trip Advisor.
