At least five companies have announced they will not advertise during Sean Hannity’s TV and radio shows following the host’s coverage of Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, who is accused of sexual misconduct with a 14-year-old.
Eloquii, a plus-size clothing retailer, was the first company to publicly distance itself from the right-wing personality, followed by 23 and me, Nature’s Bounty, Keurig and Realtor.com.
Representatives for most of the five companies, as well as Fox News, did not immediately return HuffPost’s requests for comment. A representative for Nature’s Bounty told HuffPost that the company hadn’t advertised on the show “since the summer.”
Hannity has come under fire in the last few days over his coverage of Moore, 70, who was the subject of a bombshell Washington Post report Thursday detailing allegations that he had relationships and made sexual advances on teenagers while he was in his early 30s. In the most serious charge, a 14-year-old said he molested her.
The report has prompted some Republican lawmakers to call on Moore to step down as the party’s nominee in Alabama’s Dec. 12 Senate election. Moore has repeatedly denied the allegations of sexual misconduct, though one of his comments to Hannity raised questions. He said on Hannity’s radio show Friday that he “generally” didn’t date teens during the time of the allegations.
Hannity apologized to viewers during his TV show Thursday after backlash over comments he made during his radio show earlier that day that appeared to dub Moore’s alleged sexual assault of the 14-year-old as “consensual.”
Hannity denied he was referring to Moore’s alleged sexual acts with a 14-year-old as “consensual,” but rather his interactions with 17- and 18-year-olds, since the age of consent in Alabama is 16.
“That one line was absolutely wrong,” Hannity said. “I misspoke.”
Minutes later, he continued the TV show by calling into question the credibility of sexual harassment accusers, seeming to perpetuate the myth that women often lie about their allegations.
″Now, I know, and this goes back to what you said, do people do it for money?” Hannity asked Mercedes Colwin, a Fox News legal analyst, during his TV show Thursday. “Do people do it for political reasons? Is that more common than people would think?”
Hannity’s remarks sparked backlash on social media, which prompted the five companies to reconsider advertising during his shows. His supporters called for a boycott of Keurig products on Twitter in response to the company’s decision to pull their advertising. But the hashtag campaign appeared to backfire.
This isn’t the first time advertisers have ditched Hannity. In May, numerous companies dropped his Fox News show from their advertising list, including Cars.com and Crowne Plaza Hotels, after he continued to promote a conspiracy theory about Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich’s death last year.
The advertising exodus comes amid a whirlwind of sexual harassment allegations against several Fox News employees, including Bill O’Reilly, who was forced to leave the network in April after numerous sexual harassment accusations against him.
This story has been updated with comment from Nature’s Bounty.