Don’t boycott coffee machine maker Keurig Green Mountain. So says conservative talk show host Sean Hannity, whose fans have been smashing their Keurig coffee makers and gleefully posting the videos on Twitter.
“I am a believer of freedom of speech,” Hannity said during his radio talk show Monday. “I’m not going to support a boycott of Keurig.”
That came after Keurig said it planned to stop airing ads during the Sean Hannity Show on Fox News—sparking videos of Hannity fans smashing their Keurig machines in protest. Keurig’s decision to pull advertising, which its CEO apologized Monday for announcing on Twitter, came after Hannity sparked controversy for defending Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore against allegations of sexual misconduct with minors. Moore has denied those allegations, but the controversy has sent Republican leaders scrambling for ways to block his election to the Senate.
Angelo, thank you for your concern and for bringing this to our attention. We worked with our media partner and FOX news to stop our ad from airing during the Sean Hannity Show.
— Keurig (@Keurig) November 11, 2017
#BoycottKeurig I will not buy your products any more after you pulling your ads on @seanhannity Bye.
— Mr. Tater Head (@bigandloud22) November 13, 2017
“Hold your fire please, please,” Hannity said Monday. “In my opinion Keurig was a victim of a group with a radical agenda, and they didn’t know. Hannity said he came to that conclusion after reading Keurig’s apology.
https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/930156112439054336
Keurig’s apology did not say anything about resuming ads on Hannity’s show, nor was it an apology for actually pulling its ad spending—merely for announcing that it had done so on Twitter.
“The decision to publicly communicate our programming decision via our Twitter account was highly unusual,” Keurig CEO Bob Gamgort said in a memo to employees reported by The Washington Post. “This gave the appearance of ‘taking sides’ in an emotionally charged debate that escalated on Twitter and beyond over the weekend, which was not our intent.”
“I apologize for any negativity that you have experienced as a result of this situation and assure you that we will learn and improve going forward,” Gamgort added.
On Monday, Hannity said he would replace smashed coffee machines, adding he had laughed and cried watching the videos of his fans destroying them.
“Because you did that for me on your own,” he said.”These coffee machines are expensive. I don’t know what these brands are yet. I just don’t know. But I’m going to be giving away at least 500 coffee machines this week as a way of saying thank you for all of you who have supported me.”
Happily tossed the Keurig this morning:). #BoycottKeurig#MAGA 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/cIyCNBifT0
— Diane 💖✨☀️🙏🏻 (@DianeJ64) November 13, 2017
Hannity added: “I have five Keurig machines myself.”