Sean Hannity, the host of the Fox New Channel‘s Sean Hannity Show, has lost at least five different advertisers after he has continued to promote a conspiracy theory about Seth Rich, the Democratic National Committee staffer who was murdered in 2016.
As reported by BuzzFeed News, the Washington Post, and other outlets, Hannity has been spreading a theory that the Clintons ordered Rich’s killing to seek revenge for reportedly leaking Democratic National Committee emails to Wikileaks. His theory contradicts police, who said Rich’s death was a result of a robbery, according to BuzzFeed.
In light of Hannity’s theory, at least six different advertisers have cut ties. Fortune has reached out to each of the following companies for confirmation.
Cars.com
In a statement to BuzzFeed News, the company said: “Cars.com’s media buy strategies are designed to reach as many consumers as possible across a wide spectrum of media channels. The fact that we advertise on a particular program doesn’t mean that we agree of disagree, or support or oppose, the content. We don’t have the ability to influence content at the time we make our advertising purchase. In this case, we’ve been watching closely and have recently made the decision to pull our advertising from Hannity.”
.@carsdotcom is suspending its advertising on Sean Hannity's Fox show pic.twitter.com/jmmeoa1Jxq
— Mary Ann Georgantopoulos (@marygeorgant) May 24, 2017
USAA
The United Services Automobile Association (USAA), a financial services company, tweeted on Wednesday that it pulled advertising from Hannity’s show.
In a response to a USAA (USAA) member, the company tweeted: “Thank you for sharing your concern JW. Advertising on opinion shows is not in accordance with our policy and we’ve since corrected it.”
Thank you for sharing your concern JW. Advertising on opinion shows is not in accordance with our policy and we’ve since corrected it
— USAA (@USAA_help) May 25, 2017
Ring
Ring, the outdoor home security company, has also cut ties with Hannity. In a statement to BuzzFeed News, the company said it has asked its media buying partners to not place ads on the show.
Another advertiser leaves Sean Hannity: @ring says it has asked its media buying partners to not place its ads on the show pic.twitter.com/ujOm8Ri1E8
— Brianna Sacks (@bri_sacks) May 24, 2017
Casper
Mattress startup Casper has also cut ties. In a statement to Fortune, a company spokesperson wrote: “We have reviewed our programmatic television media strategy with our agency partners and reassigned this allocation.”
Crowne Plaza Hotels
In a statement to Fortune, Crowne Plaza Hotels said it ended its relationship with its third-party ad-buying agency that placed ads on Hannity’s show.
“We do not advertise on Fox News, Hannity or any political commentary show. We have a specific do not advertise list for this type of programming. Unfortunately, our expectation to adhere to this list was not met by a third-party media aggregator. Since we learned of the airings, we addressed the issue immediately and terminated our relationship with them.”
Leesa Sleep
On Wednesday, the mattress maker confirmed on Twitter that it was pulling advertising from Hannity’s show.
We adjust our media buying every day and we can confirm that we are no longer advertising on Sean Hannity.
— Leesa (@leesasleep) May 24, 2017
This post will continue to be updated.
