Laura Ingraham's advertisers distance themselves after David Hogg comments
Several companies announced Thursday they were pulling ads from Fox News host Laura Ingraham's program after she mocked Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg on Twitter -- and after Hogg responded, calling for an advertising boycott.
"We are in the process of removing our ads from Laura Ingraham's program," the Nutrish pet food company tweeted.
The online home furnishings retailer Wayfair said in a statement it doesn't plan to continue advertising on The Ingraham Angle, which airs weeknights at 10 p.m. ET.
"As a company, we support open dialogue and debate on issues," the statement said. "However, the decision of an adult to personally criticize a high school student who has lost his classmates in an unspeakable tragedy is not consistent with our values. We do not plan to continue advertising on this particular program," Wayfair said. The Daily Beast reported reported the statement, which CBS News has confirmed.
TripAdvisor also said it decided "to stop advertising on that program."
"TripAdvisor believes strongly in the values of our company, especially the one that says, 'We are better together,'" a company spokesperson said in a statement sent to CBS News.
"We also believe Americans can disagree while still being agreeable, and that the free exchange of ideas within a community, in a peaceful manner, is the cornerstone of our democracy," it said. "We do not, however, condone the inappropriate comments made by this broadcaster. In our view, these statements focused on a high school student, cross the line of decency."
In addition, the online travel site Expedia told CNBC it has "pulled the advertising" and "no longer advertises on this show."
Ingraham also hosts The Laura Ingraham Show, a radio program.
As the companies backed away, Ingraham apologized for mocking Hogg in a tweet sent Wednesday. She had said Hogg was rejected by four colleges and "whines about it."
Hogg's sister Lauren clapped back, "How low are your ratings @IngrahamAngle that you have to start attacking my brother's grades to get attention? ... Coming from a 14 year old, please grow up."
Thursday, Ingraham struck a different tone. "Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA -incl. @DavidHogg111," she tweeted. "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 ... 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."
Advertising boycotts can be a powerful weapon in the media world. A spate of allegations of improprieties against Fox News host Bill O'Reilly last year led to an exodus of major advertisers from "The O'Reilly Factor." Days later, Fox News parent company 21st Century Fox (FOX) announced O'Reilly would not return to the network amid scrutiny over sexual harassment allegations.
Similar calls regarding Sean Hannity, however, didn't pick up the same amount of steam following remarks he made about Roy Moore, The New York Times reported.
