Laura Ingraham has waded into two huge cultural controversies recently, and her attacks have backfired

A combination photo of Fox News host Laura Ingraham and Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg.AP Photo/Getty Images

• Laura Ingraham, the hard-right Fox News primetime host, has made headlines recently for insulting some of the country’s most popular figures on the basis of their liberal politics.
• Over the last several weeks, the controversial conservative has waded into debates on racism and gun violence, sparking overwhelming backlash.

Laura Ingraham, the hard-right Fox News primetime host, has made headlines recently for insulting some of the country’s most popular figures on the basis of their liberal politics.

Over the last several weeks, the controversial conservative has waded into debates on racism and gun violence, sparking overwhelming backlash.

This week, she was forced to apologize to a 17-year-old survivor of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida after she mocked him for being rejected admission to four colleges.

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School senior, David Hogg, has become one of the most outspoken advocates against gun violence in the wake of the massacre that killed 17. His calls for stricter gun control measures have made him a frequent target of conservative pundits and conspiracy theorists.

The public outcry following Ingraham’s attack pushed multiple corporate advertisers to terminate their relationships with the host’s Fox program.

Ingraham apologized to Hogg on Twitter on Thursday, after several advertisers had pulled their commercials from her show. Hogg didn’t accept the gesture, tweeting, “an apology in an effort just to save your advertisers is not enough.”

Hogg added: “I will only accept your apology only if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I in this fight. It’s time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children.”

Just last month, Ingraham sparked similar uproar when she insulted NBA stars LeBron James and Kevin Durant for criticizing President Donald Trump, calling James’s comments on the president “barely intelligible.”

“It’s always unwise to seek political advice from someone who gets paid $100 million a year to bounce a ball,” Ingraham said, adding that James and Durant should “shut up and dribble.”

The basketball players, who have both been outspoken on social and racial justice issues, called Ingraham’s comments demeaning and “racist.”

“Ignorance is something I try to ignore. That was definitely an ignorant comment,” Durant told USA Today. “To me, it was racist.”

Ingraham responded to the controversy by insisting that she tells all kinds of celebrities, including musicians and actors, to “shut up” and do their job.

“In 2003, I wrote a New York Times bestseller called ‘Shut Up & Sing,’ in which I criticized celebrities like the Dixie Chicks & Barbra Streisand who were trashing then-President George W. Bush,” Ingraham said in a statement. “I have used a variation of that title for more than 15 years to respond to performers who sound off on politics.”

She added that there was no “racial intent” in her remarks and argued that charges of racism “are a transparent attempt to immunize entertainment and sports elites from scrutiny and criticism.”

But Ingraham, a strong supporter of the president, does not acknowledge that Trump himself built his political career off of his celebrity. The former reality TV star would regularly call into Fox News shows to express his political opinions on the news topic of the day, despite not having any professional experience in politics.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)