HBO late-night host Bill Maher came to the defense of Fox News host Laura Ingraham, after advertisers from her program started to pull their support last week after she mocked a survivor from the Parkland, Fla., shooting.
“I want to defend Laura Ingraham. I know that sounds ridiculous” Maher said on “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Friday, adding later that he thought she was a “deliberately terrible person.”
Maher said he supported the Parkland survivors, but added, “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, I think, to argue back.”
Maher explained the boycott of advertisers came after David Hogg, one of the most outspoken student voices following the shooting, urged advertisers to withdraw their support from Ingraham’s show after she tweeted about how Hogg was rejected by four colleges.
“Really? Is that American?” Maher said after members of the audience clapped after mentioning the boycott.
“He complains about bullying? That’s bullying!” Maher added in reference to Hogg. “I have been the victim of a boycott … It is wrong. You shouldn’t do this by team, you should do it by principle.”
Ingraham issued an apology for her comments later, but Hogg did not accept it and argued the apology only came after advertisers pulled 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 cut their support from Ingraham’s show in response, including Liberty Mutual, Nestle, Hulu, Expedia, and Trip Advisor.
