Fox News voices support for Laura Ingraham despite advertiser boycott

Fox News has publicly voiced its support for Laura Ingraham, saying the TV host will return to work next week despite a brewing advertiser boycott after she mocked a school shooting survivor.

“We cannot and will not allow voices to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts,” Fox News Co-President Jack Abernethy said on Monday after 15 companies publicly said they will no longer advertise on Ingraham’s show.

Speculation about Ingraham’s future intensified when she announced on her show on Friday that she would take a “pre-planned” one-week vacation. Bill O’Reilly also went on a “pre-planned” vacation when advertisers fled his show, but in his case he never returned.

Abernethy played down those expectations with Monday’s statement. “We look forward to having Laura Ingraham back hosting her program next Monday when she returns from spring vacation with her children,” he said.

Ingraham has been under fire since March 28 when she sent a tweet in which she mocked Florida school shooting survivor David Hogg, who has become a well-known advocate for gun control.

“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 said in the tweet, in which she linked to an article on her website.

Hogg responded by calling on advertisers to boycott her show. Ingraham later apologized, but Hogg said it was not enough, telling the TV host that she should denounce the way Fox News has treated him and his friends in their campaign for gun control.