Thursday 29 March 2018

‘You’re a mother’: Laura Ingraham savaged for taunting Parkland activist over college rejections

Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg is calling for advertisers to boycott Laura Ingraham’s show after the Fox News host taunted the high school senior over his college rejections.
“David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it,” Ingraham tweeted Wednesday morning. She linked to a story from a conservative news site that described Hogg as a “Gun Rights Provocateur” who had not gained acceptance to four University of California schools.
“Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA … totally predictable given acceptance rates,” Ingraham added. 
Ingraham faced immediate backlash over her tweet from those shocked she would attack a 17-year-old student who had survived the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Fla. Among the outraged were people who reminded Ingraham, simply, that she was a mother, and Hogg’s 14-year-old sister, who accused the Fox News host of stooping to a “real low” to boost her ratings.
The shooting in Florida — already one of several to take place at a school in 2018 — left 17 students and staff members dead, and galvanized a new generation of activists, including many teenagers from Parkland. 
Hogg has been one of the most vocal, speaking at the March for Our Lives rally against gun violence in Washington, D.C. Since the shooting, the teen has frequently appeared on television and rallied his growing number of Twitter followers to become civically engaged if they are frustrated with the status quo.
On Wednesday, however, Hogg remained silent — at first.
Hours later, though, he emerged with a tweet directed at the “Ingraham Angle” host. Who were her biggest advertisers? He wondered rhetorically.
Shortly afterward, he tweeted to his nearly 600,000 followers a list of 12 companies that were reportedly the top advertisers on “The Ingraham Angle.”
Pick a number at random, Hogg suggested, and contact the company next to it.
Before long, the tweet was flooded with replies from Hogg’s supporters, some of whom pasted images of their messages to the companies in question, as well as those who accused Hogg of “bullying” Ingraham.
Late Wednesday night, Shannon Coulter, one of the co-founders of the left-wing #GrabYourWallet movement, tweeted in support of Hogg’s boycott call but said she wanted to verify that the companies were in fact advertisers on Ingraham’s show. She urged people to do the same if they contacted the company, offering a sample letter that she had written to Liberty Mutual, an insurance company on Hogg’s list.
Hogg was not immediately available for comment Thursday morning. At this writing, pet food brand Nutrish had responded to Hogg’s boycott call, tweeting Thursday morning “We are in the process of removing our ads from Laura Ingraham’s program.” 
Despite the backlash, Ingraham’s original tweet about Hogg’s college rejections has remained online. Representatives for Fox News did not immediately respond to questions sent by email or an interview request Thursday morning.
In an interview with TMZ on Tuesday, Hogg had spoken about receiving rejection letters from California colleges, and in doing so sparked derision from conservatives — including Ingraham.
Hogg, who has a 4.2 GPA and a SAT score of 1270, was accepted to Florida Atlantic University, California Polytechnic State University and California State University San Marcos, TMZ reported.
During the TMZ interview he expressed disappointment about the rejections, but said it has been difficult to focus on college lately.
“We’re changing the world,” he said.
 4:21
'No more:' David Hogg urges students to get out and vote
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Since the tweet was posted, Ingraham has received backlash on social media. Ingraham was previously criticized for telling professional basketball players to “shut up and dribble.”
Many have viewed her recent actions — the latest in a slew of right-wing attacks against the Parkland survivors — as particularly appalling given that she is a parent.
Journalist David Corn described Ingraham’s tweet as “deplorable.”
Others were shocked that she was “picking on” a student who survived a school shooting.
While Ingraham has been the most recent target of criticism, she is not the only adult who has faced backlash for attacking the high school students. 
Just days ago, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) and his campaign team came under fire for posting a meme on Facebook about Emma González, another Parkland student and activist, The Washington Post’s Samantha Schmidt reported. The photo was criticized as attacking González’s Cuban heritage.
The Parkland survivors have been fiercely targeted since they first spoke out after the shooting, and the attacks have only continued, as The Washington Post’s Abby Ohlheiser reported.

On Twitter, civil rights attorney Lisa Bloom said Ingraham’s tweet may be a sign that Hogg has “really gotten under Fox News’ skin.”
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