Did you know that Sean Hannity briefly supported the Covid-19 vaccine before he was against
it?
He also once volunteered to be waterboarded for charity.
Did he ever follow through?
Stay tuned for all of Sean Hannity’s biggest controversies.
Although Fox News has a policy against its on-air personalities campaigning for elected
officials, that didn't stop Sean Hannity from appearing at a Donald Trump election rally
in 2018.
When news broke that Hannity would be what the White House announced as a "special guest,"
controversy erupted across social media.
In a since-deleted tweet, he swore off the event, claiming he was merely going to interview
the President before the rally.
The Fox News host wrote:
"To be clear, I will not be on stage campaigning with the president.
I am covering [the] final rally for my show.
Something I have done in every election in the past."
However, Hannity did indeed get up and speak in support of Trump, receiving what Deadline
called "an uproarious ovation."
He then said,
"By the way, all those people in the back are fake news."
The line seemed to have gone over well with the crowd, but it couldn't have landed well
with Hannity's Fox News colleagues — some of whom were in the very press area Hannity
encouraged attendees to mock.
The following day, Fox gave Hannity little more than a slap on the wrist.
The network even released a statement that read:
"This was an unfortunate distraction and has been addressed."
Hannity also tweeted that his on-stage appearance was "not planned," despite being touted in
a press release from the White House.
So, who's to say?
A rare Sean Hannity apology came after he fell for an actual fake news story.
It happened when a site called Your News Wire, which played fast and loose with the meaning
of "news," published a made-up report days before the 2016 election.
The phony report alleged that Michelle Obama had deleted tweets mentioning Hillary Clinton.
It wasn't true, but that didn't stop right-wing outlet Gateway Pundit from picking up the
claim and writing in a since-deleted blog post,
"The rats are jumping ship."
That was good enough for Hannity's radio show, where he repeated the claim and expanded upon
it.
His producer even listed off then-president Barack Obama and Senator Elizabeth Warren
as other Democrats supposedly deleting their support of Clinton.
Hannity said on his show:
"Wow ... That means they know it's huge.
You know why?
Because Obama's implicated!
He's implicated here, and he's pissed.
You know what his legacy might be?
Jail."
The story was easily debunkable.
After all, the tweets were very much still there on the various "implicated" Twitter
accounts.
As a result, Hannity apologized on Twitter by writing:
"Fact is they didn't [delete tweets].
I humbly apologize.
Live radio."
In the early years of WikiLeaks, when the website published classified documents about
the military, Sean Hannity was not a fan.
Back in 2010, Hannity said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was, quote, "waging his war
against the U.S." He also criticized President Obama for not having captured Julian Assange,
wondering,
"Why can't Obama do something about the WikiLeaks?"
Years later, however, when WikiLeaks released emails stolen from the Democratic National
Committee, Hannity was suddenly their biggest supporter.
In 2016, he conducted a satellite interview with Assange to thank him for what he'd released.
Hannity told the WikiLeaks founder, who at the time was hunkered down at the Ecuadorean
embassy in London:
"Julian Assange, fascinating, I do hope you get free one day."
Hannity went on to tell Assange:
"You have done a lot of good in what you have exposed about how corrupt, dishonest and phony
our government is, and I applaud that."
He interviewed Assange a few months later on his radio show, telling him,
"You've done us a favor."
A month after that, Hannity conducted an in-person interview with the beleaguered webmaster,
during which Hannity proclaimed, quote, "Journalism is dead."
Though his Fox News colleague Tucker Carlson frequently draws ire for promoting white supremacist
conspiracy theories on his show, per Rolling Stone, Sean Hannity himself has repeatedly
made offensive remarks about Black Lives Matter.
According to The New York Times, Black Lives Matter would go on to become the largest civil
rights movement in American history.
While the movement is decentralized, one website associated with the group defines the overall
goal by stating:
"[The mission of Black Lives Matter is] to eradicate white supremacy and build local
power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes."
But Hannity wasn't having it.
In 2015, he said this about the organization on his radio show:
"[Black Lives Matter is a] racist group threatening to kill cops and kill white people."
A few months later, he took issue with Democrats attending a forum hosted by Black Lives Matter.
On his show, Hannity likened a movement meant to uplift black people to the KKK.
In an October 2015 edition of his Fox News show, he asked sarcastically:
"Why don't you let the Klan host a party?"
The following year, amid the 2016 Presidential election, Hannity admitted that racism still
exists, but he questioned why Democrats sought the endorsement of BLM.
Without providing any evidence, he said on his radio show in July of 2016:
"[Black Lives Matter] only makes things worse because their advancing narrative is killing
cops."
In 2011, as Donald Trump was ginning up speculation about a run for president, he advanced racist
conspiracy theories that President Barack Obama had not been born in Hawaii and was,
instead, Kenyan.
"Why doesn't he show his birth certificate?"
While some of the media dismissed the speculation as racist, Sean Hannity defended so-called
"birthers" both on his radio show and on Fox News.
On the March 24, 2011 edition of his radio show, Hannity wondered,
"Why are [birthers] crucified and beaten up and smeared and besmirched the way they are?"
He also repeatedly called for Obama to release a long-form birth certificate despite the
fact that he had already produced his regular Hawaiian birth certificate, demanding,
"Why don't they just release it and get it over with?"
He invited Donald Trump on his television show multiple times to spread the conspiracy
theory.
President Obama did ultimately release his long-form birth certificate, poking fun at
the whole controversy in a segment at the White House Correspondents Dinner that some
believe is the moment Trump decided to run for president.
"Say what you will about, uh, Mr. Trump, he certainly would bring some change to the White
House.
Let's see what we got up there."
While Trump eventually admitted that he did believe Obama was born in the United States
after all, Hannity continued to reference the controversy for years.
On his radio show in 2016, he joked,
"I have an offer for the president.
I will charter a plane for you and your family.
I will charter it to the country of your choice.
[...] You want to go to Kenya?
I'll pay for you to go to Kenya."
In 2017, Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore faced allegations from multiple women that
he had abused them when they were underage.
One woman claimed Moore initiated sexual contact when he was 32 and she was 14.
The Alabama Senate candidate released a statement to The Washington Post claiming,
"These allegations are completely false and are a desperate political attack by the National
Democrat Party."
Sean Hannity seemed to have agreed, because he not only backed Moore on his show, but
he even invited the man to defend himself.
Hannity said on his radio show,
"You have false allegations that are made, and you know — how do you determine?
It's 'He said, she [said].'"
In response, multiple sponsors announced they would no longer advertise on the program,
including Keurig.
And in response to the response, fans of Hannity began posting videos of themselves slamming
their Keurigs on the ground in protest.
Hannity walked it all back after the controversy, claiming in a since-deleted tweet that he
had been, quote, "clear and unambiguous" about the situation.
He then went on to issue an "ultimatum" to Moore, asking him to clear up the accusations.
"You must remove any doubt.
If you can't do this then judge Moore needs to get out of this race."
In a since-deleted "open letter," the candidate claimed:
"[The allegations were a] desperate attempt to smear my character and defeat my campaign."
This, apparently, was good enough for Hannity.
The Fox News host accepted Moore's explanation and continued supporting the candidate in
his campaign to become a United States Senator for the state of Alabama.
In December of 2017, Moore lost the Alabama senate race to Democrat Doug Jones.
President Donald Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, faced legal trouble when it was revealed that
he helped pay off adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an affair with Trump.
Cohen admitted that his role in the Trump administration was, quote, "to cover up [Trump's]
dirty deeds."
He ultimately received a three-year prison sentence for his involvement with the payment
and resulting cover-up.
Sean Hannity reported on the attorney's legal trouble, but during a court hearing, it was
revealed that Hannity himself had used Cohen for legal consultations.
He never disclosed this relationship on-air and defended himself on his radio show, twisting
it into a media issue rather than an ethical issue.
After insisting that he had never officially paid Cohen for legal services, Hannity said,
"How did this blow up to be such a big deal?
[...] [P]retty unbelievable, the world we live in."
Some of his Fox News colleagues, however, thought it was a big deal.
Frequent commentator and law professor Alan Dershowitz confronted Hannity about the revelation
live on television, admonishing,
"I think it would have been, uh, much, much better had you disclosed that relationship."
Hannity then shot back,
"I have the right to privacy.
I do."
In July 2016, a young man named Seth Rich was murdered in a mugging gone wrong on the
streets of D.C.
According to reporter Michael Isikoff, there had been seven armed robberies in the six
weeks leading up to Rich's murder, and police concluded that the tragic killing was exactly
what it seemed like.
Rich was a staffer for the Democratic National Committee, and Isikoff explained to NPR how
Russian disinformation soon led to a conspiracy theory.
The conspiracy theory alleged that Rich had been slain by a team of assassins sent by
Hillary Clinton to keep him from testifying about something that would be damaging to
her in the election.
Over the objections of the man's family, Sean Hannity promoted the conspiracy theory on
air, suggesting on Twitter in a since-deleted tweet that Rich might have been the source
of leaked DNC emails that were published by WikiLeaks.
"Questions continue to swirl around the mysterious murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich."
Furthermore, he said this was important because it would cause problems for what he called
the mainstream media's, quote, "alliance to destroy President Trump."
Hannity was out on a limb compared to the rest of the party.
Even the conservative news outlet National Review wrote about what it called the "shameful
nonsense" Hannity pushed on his show.
Rich's family ultimately sued Fox for its baseless, inflammatory coverage.
The family said in a statement:
"The settlement with Fox News closes another chapter in our efforts to mourn the murder
of our beloved Seth, whom we miss every single day."
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, which President Donald Trump repeatedly downplayed
and minimized, Sean Hannity was by his side.
"It's going to disappear.
One day it's like a miracle, it will disappear."
On March 9, 2020, Hannity said,
"This scaring the living hell out of people; I see it, again, as like, let's bludgeon Trump
with this new hoax."
Days later, on the other side of the worldwide shutdown, he denied ever having called the
disease a "hoax," but still said:
"They're politicizing of this virus, well, predictable, despicable, repulsive, all of
the above."
Sixteen months later, with vaccines widely available, Hannity changed his tune, telling
his audience:
"Please take COVID seriously.
I can't say it enough.
Enough people have died.
We don't need any more death."
The Fox News host went on to add:
"It absolutely makes sense for many Americans to get vaccinated.
I believe in science.
I believe in the science of vaccination."
His comments predictably went mega-viral, angering fans of the political firebrand who
had spent more than a year denying the efficacy of vaccines based on things Hannity himself
had said on his show.
A few days later, he walked it all back, telling his radio audience:
"I'm not urging people to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
[...] Why are they saying something I didn't say?"
Hannity went on to clarify that he merely wanted people to do their own research.
After his brief pro-vaccine stance, he has continued to push vaccine skepticism, claiming
on the January 18, 2022 edition of his radio show,
"[Democrats] want to quarantine people in [...] special internment camps."
During the controversy over "enhanced interrogation" techniques in the aftermath of the George
W. Bush administration, Sean Hannity made it very clear where he stood: waterboarding
wasn't torture.
In fact, Hannity claimed that waterboarding was so harmless that even someone like himself
could handle it with no problem.
At least, that's the impression he gave off when he offered to undergo the tactic, which
involves putting a wet rag over someone's face and pouring water on them, simulating
drowning.
During a debate with film actor Charles Grodin, Grodin jokingly suggested Hannity experience
it himself.
The cable news host replied,
"I'll do it for charity.
I'll let you do it."
"I wouldn't do it."
"I'll do it for the troops' families."
MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, a critic of both Hannity and the use of waterboarding, wouldn't
drop it when Hannity never followed through.
Olbermann even offered to donate a thousand dollars for each second that Hannity lasted,
saying,
"Oh, and I'll double it, when you admit you feared for your life."
Four years later, a reporter for ThinkProgress asked Hannity what happened to that whole
waterboarding-for-charity thing.
He told the reporter:
"Here I am bringing you on the program and give you an opportunity to give your pretty
radical left-wing point of view.
That's kind of the way you treat me?"
ThinkProgress claims that after the show, Hannity called them to complain by saying,
"What you're doing here is really stupid."
Speaking of Keith Olbermann, back when he hosted a show on MSNBC, the liberal firebrand
often provided a counterweight to Sean Hannity's conservative stance.
He refused to pull punches, criticizing Hannity's conspiracy- and race-baiting rhetoric as such.
In one segment, for example, Olbermann had some harsh words for a guest on Hannity's
show who had put forth a theory that then-Senator Barack Obama was, in the guest's words, "a
secret Muslim with a secret agenda to overthrow the government."
For platforming such a person, Olbermann called Hannity a "hack" and made reference to him
not having a soul.
He expanded on his personal relationship with the Fox News star several years later, revealing
on Twitter that they were once colleagues.
Olbermann claimed that Hannity told him back in the day that he was playing a character
and didn't really believe the inflammatory things he said.
Olbermann wrote on Twitter:
"Hey @seanhannity remember when you would tell me in the hall at ABC Radio you were
amazed anybody believed you since it was just theater?"
Hannity has not addressed the allegations.
It's no secret that Sean Hannity is a big supporter of former president Donald Trump.
The Fox News personality frequently interviewed Trump while he was in office.
He would steer Trump’s answers whenever he started to ramble, such as one memorable
incident where the former president seemed unable to outline any particular goals for
a second term in office.
What seems to have been more of a secret was the fact that Hannity evidently had a hand
in running the Trump administration, which he did not disclose on air.
It was The Washington Post that reported on Hannity's influence over the President.
According to sources in the White House, Trump and Hannity often spoke on the phone late
into the night, with the former asking the latter for advice.
One source told The Washington Post:
"[Sean Hannity] basically has a desk in the place."
David Bossie, once a deputy campaign manager for the Trump campaign, went a step further,
telling the newspaper:
"The president sees [Sean Hannity] as an incredibly smart and articulate spokesman for the agenda."
Trump's former press secretary Stephanie Grisham, on the other hand, told CNN that Hannity acted
as a "shadow advisor" to the President.
However, since Hannity has declared himself a "journalist" in the past, the fact that
he would act as a "spokesman for the agenda" of a sitting president raises ethical concerns.
A USA Today editorial called Hannity's undisclosed influence "dangerous," writing,
"Sean Hannity is not spreading Donald Trump's endless stream of lies, self-aggrandizing
delusions and wild conspiracy theories, he's authoring them."
​​Though Sean Hannity has continued to support Donald Trump since he left office,
the two apparently disagreed significantly about one of the biggest events of Trump's
tenure in the White House: the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In the months leading up to the attack, Hannity repeatedly promoted Donald Trump's thoroughly
debunked claims about election fraud after the 2020 election.
He even excitedly previewed the January 6th rally on his Fox News show, telling viewers
the night before,
"Big day tomorrow, big crowds apparently showed up."
Privately, however, it seems that he was advising the Trump campaign about the event and was
even cautioning against going too far.
The Congressional January 6th Committee released text messages revealing that Hannity contacted
Trump's chief of staff that very same night.
In one of the text messages, he wrote:
"I'm very worried about the next 48 hours."
According to The Independent, a few days after the riot, Hannity texted,
"He can't mention the election again.
Ever."
When those text messages were released, Trump told CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins,
"I disagree with Sean on that statement and the facts are proving me right."
As of March 2022, it remains to be seen how much heat Hannity will take for his role in
the lead-up to January 6th, but Congressman Adam Schiff told MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell,
"We have no interest in [Hannity's] political commentary, in his show, in his work as a
journalist...
but we have a deep interest in conversations, texts, etc. that are outside of any role related
to Fox News."
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