Fox News Bravely Stands by Laura Ingraham, Who Was Bested by a Teen

Laura Ingraham will not be making any appearances on her show this week as she is on a “pre-planned” vacation (sure), but the head honchos at Fox News want everyone to know that they fully support her. This is despite the fact that Ingraham mocked a high school shooting survivor and lost a bunch of advertisers in the process—so many, in fact, that her Friday show had only two ads that weren’t from direct response advertisers (think 1-800 ads that want you to “call now!”), according to the Los Angeles Times.

In a statement to the Times, co-president of Fox News Jack Abernethy said:

“We cannot and will not allow voices to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts…We look forward to having Laura Ingraham back hosting her program next Monday when she returns from spring vacation with her children.”

Clearly this statement is meant to reassure Fox audiences that the network supports Ingraham whether or not advertisers do. The accusation of “agenda-driven intimidation efforts” is rich considering that’s exactly what Fox News peddles all the time, but I’m sure Ingraham appreciates the gesture. Of course, just because brands pulled out of Ingraham’s show doesn’t mean that they’ve done significant damage or pulled out of Fox completely, according to what an “insider” told the Times:

This person said no advertisers have pulled their dollars from the network but have simply moved from “The Ingraham Angle” to other programs on the Fox News schedule. Most of the advertisers are out because they want to avoid the controversy associated with the story and could revisit the situation in a few weeks after Ingraham returns.

We’ll probably just have to wait and see if the advertisers warm back up to Ingraham or not. Either way, it’s clear that Fox News is steadfast in its support for a bigot whose career highlight is making fun of a teenager.