The Mirror

Journalist Has ‘Proof’ That Hannity Abrupt Vacay Story Is B.S.

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Betsy Rothstein Gossip blogger
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One thing we can all probably agree on: Fox News host Sean Hannity is taking a vacation over the Memorial Day long weekend.

But amid the hysteria over the host losing advertisers after voicing conspiracy theories about the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich, some news outlets are claiming that the vacation is “abrupt” or a prelude to him leaving the network that has undergone an enormous amount of change in the past year.

But certain sources are calling b.s. on this “abrupt” nonsense.

So while liberal news outlets like the Raw Story and the incredibly ominous sounding and progressive “The Ring of Fire Network” — which notoriously bashes conservatives — carry on about Hannity taking an “abrupt” vacay, more trustworthy sources say it doesn’t mean anything more than the obvious.

Which is to say that Sean Hannity is taking a f–king vacation.

On Thursday, Fox News PR finally shot back. “Like the rest of the country, Sean Hannity is taking a vacation for Memorial Day weekend and will be back on Tuesday,” the network said in a statement reported by Business Insider. “Those who suggest otherwise are going to look foolish.”

HuffPost‘s longtime perpetually non-partisan media reporter Michael Calderone was among the first reporters to debunk the theory that something unusual was going on.

“I don’t know how long it was planned, but Hannity did say on radio today he’d be off starting tomorrow for a long memorial day weekend,” he wrote on Twitter.

He was responding to CNN’s new righty media scribe Oliver Darcy who wrote, “@kimguilfoyle said on ‘The Five’ she will fill in for @seanhannity. He’s apparently going on vacation for 2 days. Unclear if preplanned.” Darcy quickly added, “(FWIW, it is Memorial Day weekend so it could very well be preplanned).”

Right-wing President Trump hater Erick Erickson, who runs The Resurgent, also came to Hannity’s defense.

“I know first hand that this story circulating today is a lie because it indirectly involves me,” he wrote in The Resurgent. “I have the email chain to prove it is a lie. This is another example of the press generating fake news to smear a conservative.”

Some things are true — it’s no secret, for example, that Hannity is unhappy at Fox News. Ex-FNC President Roger Ailes recently died and Hannity’s BFF Bill Shine was canned. But Hannity is under contract until 2020.

Erickson pounded away at what he insists is the big fat lie — which is that this so-called “vacation” is a precursor to Hannity being on his way out the door. He pointedly slammed Philly.com‘s writeup.

“This story is patently false and I know so first hand,” he wrote. “Why? Because my radio show starts right after Sean’s show on WSB in Atlanta. On May 18th, my boss asked me to put on schedule for today and tomorrow to start my show at 3pm ET. Why? Because Hannity would be out for Memorial Day vacation with his family and they’d like me on locally instead of his guest hosts due to Atlanta traffic issues. Hannity’s television vacation days are always in conjunction with his radio vacation days.”

Fox News can be unpredictably forgiving.

In late April, Jesse Watters made a crude remark about Ivanka Trump and a microphone. The network gave him a two-day time-out and he was back on “The Five” the very next week.

Hannity will no doubt enjoy his long weekend off.

Next week will arrive before we know it.