News
This week, Fox News host Laura Ingraham mocked Parkland survivor David Hogg and set off quite the firestorm. Enough so, in fact, that Ingraham apologized to Hogg, citing the "spirit of Holy Week." But many Twitter followers of the feud did not exactly buy Ingraham's contrition as genuine, partially due to her noting of Holy Week.
The first transgression (in keeping with the "spirit of Holy Week") occurred Wednesday morning when Ingraham mocked Hogg's rejection by several colleges. She tweeted triumphantly about his failure to be accepted at four universities and wrote he "whines" in response.
Hogg shot back on Twitter, tweeting a list of companies that advertise during Ingraham's show, and asking his supporters to call and urge them to stop giving her program any money. Several companies did just that — including Hulu, Nestle, TripAdvisor, and Hulu — dropping their ads during Ingraham's show.
Then on Thursday came Ingraham's apology. She wrote on Twitter, "Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA —incl. @DavidHogg111. 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."
Some Twitter users saw plenty to dispute in that tweet, and lit up the social media platform afterward on a number of fronts.
1Leave Jesus Out Of It
Writer and pastor John Pavlovitz pointed out the chasm separating Jesus' actions during Holy Week and what Ingraham did to Hogg. "Stop trolling a teenage shooting victim under financial pressure. Stop using Jesus," Pavlovitz wrote.
2Follow The Money
When looking for an explanation for inexplicable behavior, some of the best go-to advice is to follow the money. Advertisers pulling their contracts with Ingraham's show hurts her bottom line, so according to writer and director James Gunn, Ingraham's apology came because she doesn't "want to be losing those sacred advertising dollars."
3Fake News Strikes Again
President Trump made the "fake news" mantra famous, but the accusation has flown the other way as well; plenty of liberals and progressives regularly dinging Fox News for what they see as its "fake news" conservative agenda. Twitter account The Hoarse Whisperer wrote "even Fox News hosts' apologies are fake."
4Does Holy Week Have A Corner On Apologies?
It struck many as strange that Ingraham had to invoke "Holy Week" to justify her decision to apologize to Hogg. As Ken Jennings of Jeopardy-winning stardom wrote, "Good thing it was Easter or Laura Ingraham would have kept mocking teenage victims of violence all week."
5Sibling Solidarity
David Hogg's sister Lauren Hogg tweeted at Ingraham to "please just be a real journalist" and utilize her "platform to help people not hurt them." That's solid sibling kinship right there.
6Carl Weathers Brings The Brevity
It's not as if this is Ingraham's first brush with controversy. In February, she criticized NBA star LeBron James for speaking out about politics, saying on her show that James should "shut up and dribble." Her radio program once featured a segment called "The Illegal Immigration Sob Story," wherein she ripped on a piece of news supposedly meant to engender sympathy for people she viewed exclusively as law-breakers.
So Carl Weathers' simple "Laughable" response to Ingraham's apology tweet implies that history within it.
7Sorry, Not Sorry
Writer and producer Ben Wexler quoted Demi Lovato's "Sorry Not Sorry" and ascribed that ubiquitous line to Ingraham instead.
8The Original Tweet Stands, So...?
Andy Lassner, executive produce of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, wrote that Ingraham's decision to keep her original Hogg-insult tweet up meant she was just "sorry-ish."
9Ingraham's Not The Only One
Sportswriter Rick Reilly warned Ingraham that if she "doesn't stop insulting students," she might just get Betsy DeVos' job as education secretary. Presumably, Reilly was referring to DeVos' refusal to take questions from Parkland students during her brief visit to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Ingraham's decision to call out Hogg on Twitter over some college rejections letter was enough of a problem, but her follow-up apology may have earned her even more opprobrium online.
