USAA’s excuse for pulling its ads from Fox News host Sean Hannity’s show is full of holes.
USAA was among several advertisers to pull their ads from “Hannity” following his airing of a conspiracy theory surrounding the death of murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich. Left-wing nonprofit Media Matters kickstarted the public pressure campaign after posting a list of Hannity’s advertisers, leading reporters from BuzzFeed and other liberal news sources to begin contacting advertisers and asking if they would stand by Hannity. (RELATED: Media Matters Targets Hannity Advertisers)
USAA claimed to have pulled the ads because its policy is to only air ads on “news programs,” rather than “opinion shows.”
But the insurance company’s claim doesn’t match the record, the Media Research Center found.
USAA advertised on Rachel Maddow’s show. They advertised on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show. They advertised on Chris Hayes’ show. All three of those shows are known for being presented from a liberal point of view. The company has yet to return a call seeking an explanation for the apparent discrepancy.
USAA members upset with the decision to pull ads from Hannity’s show have flooded its Facebook page with comments expressing their anger.
“I will no longer be doing business with a company who claims to represent the military, but who caves to the wishes of the Progressive interest groups who are trying to silence conservative talk radio and Fox News,” one man commented.
“After almost 40 years as a loyal customer, it took only 26 hours for you to lose this client. You chose to push your political ideology by cancelling Sean Hannity (Fox) ads, while supporting Racheal Maddow — slap in the face of Veterans and USA loving conservatives,” said another.
The campaign against Hannity’s advertisers followed a similar, successful campaign against former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly over allegations of sexual harassment. Fox News fired O’Reilly after dozens of advertisers caved to public pressure and pulled their ads from his show. The campaign to take down O’Reilly, like the campaign to take down Hannity, was led by Media Matters. (RELATED: O’Reilly On Fox News Firing: ‘This Was A Hit’)