With a single tweet, a 17-year-old kid decimated a prime-time Fox News show

In the wake of Parkland shooting survivor and gun control activist David Hogg‘s tweet calling out Fox News host Laura Ingraham, at least half a dozen advertisers have pulled their ads from her prime-time show.

Earlier this week, Ingraham took to Twitter and mocked Hogg for not being admitted to colleges that he applied to. The backlash was swift, and Hogg took the opportunity to ask his nearly 600,000 Twitter followers to boycott Ingraham’s advertisers.

As the first advertisers began to withdraw their support, Ingraham apologized to Hogg and “any of the brave victims of Parkland” in a series of tweets.

“Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA —incl. @DavidHogg111,” Ingraham tweeted this Thursday. “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.”

As of this writing, six companies have announced that they would no longer be affiliated with Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle. The companies that have withdrawn so far are, Nestle, Wayfair, TripAdvisor, Expedia, Joseph A. Banks, and Nutrish, a pet food brand.

“As a company, we support open dialogue and debate on issues,” Wayfair told the Daily Beast. “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.”

Also speaking to the Daily Beast was Nestle, saying, “We have no plans to buy ads on the show in the future.”

Piling on the pressure, Hogg rejected Ingraham’s apology in a tweet from Thursday afternoon, telling Ingraham that “an apology in an effort just to save your advertisers is not enough.”

“I will only accept your apology only if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I in this fight,” Hogg tweeted. “It’s time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children.”

In the wake of last month’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in which 17 people were killed and dozens injured, Hogg emerged as one of the most vocal and widely covered spokespeople for a revitalized gun control movement. Since the shooting, he’s appeared on numerous prime-time cable news spots and has amassed over 600,000 followers on Twitter.

Hogg’s newly found high public profile has come with certain drawbacks. He and his fellow student activists have been compared to Nazis and communists, and have been branded as “crisis actors” by conspiracy theorists. Nevertheless, Hogg has stood firm amidst the criticism coming his way, whether it be justified or not, and his profile and public influence is only growing stronger. While the thought of a 17-year-old kid being exposed to such intense public scrutiny is a little daunting, those relying on his voice are hopeful that he and the Parkland students will continue to slay giants.

Featured image via screen grab/YouTube

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.