A number of companies have pulled ads from Fox News host Sean Hannity’s show Hannity after he pledged to continue investigating circumstances surrounding the death of murdered DNC employee Seth Rich.
Companies including Cars.com, Peloton, and Leesa Sleep have all given in to pressure to cease advertising on the show over Hannity’s pursuit of now retracted claims made by Fox News that murdered DNC employee Seth Rich had contact with Wikileaks before his death.
After Rich’s family sent a letter to Fox demanding that Hannity stop discussing the former DNC staffer’s murder, Hannity said he would do so “out of respect for the family’s wishes.”
“I totally and completely understand how upset and how hard this is on this family, especially over the recent coverage of Seth’s death,” he said. “I’ve been communicating with them. I got a very heartfelt note. I also sent them a heartfelt note back.”
“However, out of respect for the family’s wishes, for now, I am not discussing this matter at this time,” Hannity continued, although he later contended that he had “retracted nothing” and would continue to “try to get to the truth.”
In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Hannity accused figures including George Soros, David Brock of Media Matters, and failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton of “liberal fascism,” after his advertisers were reportedly “inundated with emails” from left-wing groups asking them to stop advertising on the show.
Hannity is now the second Fox News to be targeted by advertisers this year, after over 90 companies dropped advertising on Bill O’Reilly’s show The O’Reilly Factor over allegations of sexual harassment. O’Reilly was eventually released by the network, despite being America’s highest-rated cable news host.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the claim that Kim Dotcom was scheduled to appear on Tuesday’s edition of Hannity. A Fox News representative contacted Breitbart News stating, “He sent a tweet but he was never booked on the show.”
You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart.com
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