Fox News host apologizes for mocking a Parkland shooting survivor's grades as companies yank their ads from her show
- Fox News host Laura Ingraham apologized on Thursday to Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg.
- Ingraham had mocked Hogg for getting rejected from four universities and accused him of whining about it.
- Hogg responded by tweeting a list of companies that advertise on Ingraham's show and encouraging them to yank their ads from her show.
- As of early Thursday afternoon, TripAdvisor, Wayfair, and Nutrish had all pulled their commercials.
Fox News opinion-show host Laura Ingraham apologized via Twitter on Thursday for making a snide comment about one of the Parkland shooting survivors and his college rejections.
The apology comes after multiple advertisers announced they were pulling their commercials from her show after the controversy, including TripAdvisor, Wayfair, and the pet-food company Nutrish. Business Insider's Mary Hanbury contacted all of the companies, and compiled a list of their responses.
"Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA - incl. @DavidHog111," Ingraham tweeted. "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."
Ingraham added that she believed her show was the first to feature Hogg immediately after the deadly high-school shooting on February 14, and complimented how "poised" he was.
"As always, he's welcome to return to the show anytime for a productive discussion," Ingraham said.
Hogg has emerged as a frequent target for prominent conservatives, who have criticized him over his gun-control activism and expletive-ridden insults directed at Republicans and gun-rights advocates.
Ingraham drew widespread scorn the previous day for tweeting an article that said Hogg had been rejected from several California universities.
"David Hogg Rejected by Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA…totally predictable given acceptance rates.)" she tweeted.
Hogg and several other students from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School responded by calling for an advertising boycott of Ingraham's show and tweeting a list of companies people could contact to demand they yank their ads.
Ingraham's apology on Thursday may have come too late for the Parkland teenagers - Hogg's sister quickly responded to her tweet, accusing her of only apologizing after losing advertisers.
"Hey @IngrahamAngle please just be a real journalist. Focus on the important stories and use your platform to help people not hurt them," Lauren Hogg said.
She also tweeted at first lady Melania Trump, who has taken on cyberbullying as one of her core issues.
"HEY @FLOTUS MY BROTHER IS LITERALLY GETTING CYBERBULLIED BY @IngrahamAngle. ANY COMMENTS?" Lauren Hogg tweeted.
The first lady did not respond.