Bill Maher defends Laura Ingraham against David Hogg led protest, audience doesn’t like it
Bill Maher may have surprised his leftist fans, defending Fox News host amid a boycott of her advertisers following a twitter attack on David Hogg. In fact, as Maher explains his stance, the audience counters.
“I want to defend Laura Ingraham,” he announced. “I know that sounds ridiculous.”
“It has to do with the Parkland kids, guns and free speech,” he said on his show, “Real Time With Bill Maher.”
“I think those kids did a great thing. They put this issue in a place we’ve never had it before. And I wish them success. But if you are going to be out there in the arena and make yourselves the champions of this cause, people are going to have the right to argue back.”
Maher said he didn’t agree with Ingraham’s stance on that or many other issues, and even called her a “deliberately terrible person,” but said it’s her First Amendment right to say what she wants.
“Really? Is that American?” he asked, prompting some in his own audience members to shout, “Yes!” But Maher went on, “And [Hogg] complains about bullying? That’s bullying. I have been the victim of a boycott. I lost a job once. It is wrong. You shouldn’t do this by team, you should do this by principle.”
Ingraham is dealing with an advertiser revolt after she taunted Hogg about his college rejections. The 17-year-old retaliated by encouraging his hundreds of thousands of followers to pressure companies to stop advertising on “The Ingraham Angle.”
“Soooo @IngrahamAngle what are your biggest advertisers … Asking for a friend. #BoycottIngramAdverts” – Hogg tweeted, later tweeting emails of advertising execs, but removed it.
Hogg has rejected that apology, calling Ingraham a bully.
“It’s disturbing to know that somebody can bully so many people and just get away with it, especially to the level that she did,” he said. “No matter who somebody is, no matter how big or powerful they may seem, a bully is a bully, and it’s important that you stand up to them.”
Former New York governor Eliot Spitzer responded that the right to boycott is also “central to the First Amendment.”
“[Ingraham] has the right to say whatever she wants, with very, very few exceptions,” he said. “We have the right to speak back. Boycotting, think of the Civil Rights movement. Boycotting is part of free speech, saying I don’t want to work with that person. Saying I will not buy a product from that person.”
Nearly 20 advertisers, including Johnson & Johnson, Nestlé, Hulu, Jenny Craig, Ruby Tuesday and Miracle-Ear, have distanced themselves from Ingraham’s show since she tweeted at Hogg.
She has since apologized for it, took a week off for Easter and returns to her show Monday.
[…] Ingraham lost multiple advertisers after she tweeted out an article that mocked Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg for not getting into colleges to which he applied. Hogg called for a boycott, even released personal emails of advertisers before taking that tweet down and drew attacks for taking his response too far. […]