Turns out that when Martha and the Vandellas sang about the irresistible attraction to a bad boy and certain heartbreak, they were also singing about 21st-century politics: Nowhere to run to, baby, nowhere to hide. The point's been demonstrated again with Volvo announcing, in a now-deleted tweet posted Nov. 13, that it will no longer advertise on Sean Hannity's Fox News show "Hannity." Volvo joins 10 other advertisers that have pulled or reconsidered their ads in response to public outcry over Hannity's coverage of Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore.
When Volvo Car USA tweeted, "We have spoken with our media agency and have advised them to cease advertising on the show," it joined firms like Reddi Wip, Realtor.com, 23andMe, Nature's Bounty and Hebrew National among the 11 advertisers who have paused or pulled advertising on "Hannity." Volvo hasn't commented on its position, nor on the now-deleted tweet.
The backstory: five women recently accused Roy Moore of sexual misconduct that happened decades ago, when Moore - now 70 - was in his 30s and the women were in their teens. A Washington Post story spoke to four of the women, one of whom said she was 14 when the alleged events took place. After the story ran, Hannity discussed it on his radio program "The Sean Hannity Show" with the show's executive producer. At one point in the exchange, the producer said the encounters between Moore and the girls were consensual, appearing to include the 14-year-old, and Hannity agreed. (Note: Hannity's radio show runs on Premiere Networks, a privately owned company with no affiliation with Fox News. Fox News Radio Network is one of the stations in Premiere Networks' programming, separate from Hannity's channel.)
Hannity later apologized on his televised Fox News Show for the "consensual" remark, saying, "That one line was absolutely wrong." Hannity cautioned against rushing to judgment, though, saying everyone has a right to be considered innocent until proven guilty. Then, with a guest on the show, Hannity probed the motivations of Moore's accusers.
By then, the tweets had already started, with some observers on Twitter asking companies if they would continue advertising on Hannity's televised show.
Volvo latest of 11 advertisers to pull ads from Sean Hannity's show originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 14 Nov 2017 16:21:00 EST.
