Advertisers abandon Laura Ingraham's show after Fox News host mocks Parkland shooting survivor

TV hosts apologises for comments about school shooting survivor David Hogg

Top advertisers are fleeing a Fox News show after host Laura Ingraham mocked a Parkland school shooting survivor over his college rejections.

At least four companies announced they would cease advertising on the show after Ms Ingraham tweeted tauntingly about 17-year-old David Hogg’s rejection from four colleges. Mr Hogg has become a prominent voice in the gun control movement following the Valentine's Day massacre at his high school that left 17 people dead.

“The decision of an adult to personally criticise a high school student who has lost his classmates in an unspeakable tragedy is not consistent with our values,” a spokesperson for home goods company Wayfair said in a statement. “We do not plan to continue advertising on this particular program.”

The sentiment was echoed by travel company TripAdvisor, pet food company Nutrish, and video streaming service Hulu – two more top advertisers who pulled their spots in the wake of Ms Ingraham’s comments.

“In our view, these statements focused on a high school student, cross the line of decency,” a spokesperson for TripAdvisor said in a statement. “As such, we have made a decision to stop advertising on that program.”

The backlash started on Wednesday, when Ms Ingraham tweeted a link to a Daily Caller article titled: “Gun Rights Provocateur David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied”.

“Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA...totally predictable given acceptance rates,” the "Ingraham Angle" host added, incorrectly quoting the student’s 4.2 grade point average.

Mr Hogg responded to the comments directly, tweeting out a list of what he said were Ms Ingraham's biggest advertisers. He urged his nearly 600,000 Twitter followers to call the companies and express their concern.

Within 24 hours, Nutrish announced they would pull advertisements, followed by TripAdvisor and Wayfair. Hulu announced plans to pull their ads later on Thursday. A Nestlé spokesperson said the company had no plans to buy ads on the show in the future.

As the news unfolded, Ms Ingraham backtracked on her comments, apologising to Mr Hogg and tweeting that “any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA”.

“On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologise for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland,” she added.

Mr Hogg has become a frequent target of right-wing media since he and fellow Marjory Stoneman Douglas students began advocating for stricter gun control laws. Pro-Trump news site The Gateway Pundit recently claimed Mr Hogg had been coached on what to say during his television interviews. Other, more fringe media figures have claimed Mr Hogg is an actor, paid to drum anger over gun violence.

The student told TMZ this week that he had been rejected by four colleges, but had been accepted to three others across the country. He said he was disappointed by the rejections, but hadn’t been thinking about school too much lately.

“We’re changing the world,” he said. “Right now it’s too hard to focus on that.”