President of the Media Research Center Brent Bozell has criticized the left-wing attacks against Fox News host Sean Hannity, describing them as “part of the liberal strategy to re-establish their monopoly over television news.”
On Wednesday, a number of companies including Cars.com, Peloton, and Leesa Sleep pulled their ads from Hannity following pressure from left-wing activists 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.
In a series of tweets, 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.
Now Bozell, whose organization the Media Research Center analyzes liberal bias across the mainstream media, has accused advertisers of “joining in the liberal cause and advancing the liberal strategy” and becoming “servants of the politically correct.”
He also attacked the military financial services company USAA for “succumbing to the pressure of left-wing extremists,” adding that Hannity has “for decades been a fierce supporter of the military at every turn.”
Hannity is now the second Fox News show to have ads pulled this year, after over 90 companies dropped advertising on Bill O’Reilly’s show The O’Reilly Factor over allegations of sexual harassment, following pressure from left-wing activists. O’Reilly was eventually released by the network, despite being America’s highest-rated cable news host.
“We have remained silent for far too long. A bridge has been crossed. Stay tuned,” Bozell added.
You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart.com