Fox News host Laura Ingraham returned to her prime-time show, “The Ingraham Angle,” Monday night amid a boycott of the show from advertisers.
Ingraham, who said she took the week off for Easter, told viewers that the “bullying of the Left” is “desperate” and “Stalinist,” and vowed to use her platform to protect free speech in the opening segment titled, “The Left’s Plot to Silence Conservatives.”
“We indeed, are reaching a crisis point,” Ingraham said of what she calls the Left’s silencing of conservative voices. “Their objective is a total transformation of American society not through rational discourse and open debate but through personal demonization and silencing.”
Ingraham’s return monologue comes after on-air advertisers began fleeing the show amid calls from Parkland, Fla., survivors to boycott them, including Nestle, TripAdvisor, Honda among others.
The controversy began when Parkland shooting survivor and gun control advocate David Hogg called on his Twitter followers to boycott advertisers on the show after Ingraham mocked the 17-year-old for not getting into four University of California campuses.
“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.)” Ingraham tweeted.
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.) https://t.co/wflA4hWHXY
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 28, 2018
Hogg responded to Ingraham’s remarks by calling for a boycott of her show’s advertisers.
Soooo @IngrahamAngle what are your biggest advertisers … Asking for a friend. #BoycottIngramAdverts
— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) March 29, 2018
Pick a number 1-12 contact the company next to that #
Top Laura Ingraham Advertisers
1. @sleepnumber
2. @ATT
3. Nutrish
4. @Allstate & @esurance
5. @Bayer
6. @RocketMortgage Mortgage
7. @LibertyMutual
8. @Arbys
9. @TripAdvisor
10. @Nestle
11. @hulu
12. @Wayfair— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) March 29, 2018
Ingraham later apologized for her comments mocking Hogg’s college rejections as companies began to pull their advertising from the show.
“On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset of hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland,” Ingraham tweeted.
Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA —incl. @DavidHogg111. 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. For the record, I believe my show was the first to feature David…(1/2)
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 29, 2018
… 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. WATCH: https://t.co/5wcd00wWpd (2/2)
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 29, 2018
The apology however, didn’t go over well with Hogg, who rejected the apology as advertisers continued to flee.
“I will only accept your apology only if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I in this fight,” Hogg wrote, arguing her apology was just to save her advertisers.
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 I️ in this fight. It’s time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children. https://t.co/H0yWs4zMGk
— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) March 29, 2018