Sean Hannity

{{bronze}}
[[File:Sean Hannity Conspiracy Web.jpg|thumb|165px|… and that's why [[Hillary Clinton|Hillary]] is secretly having an affair with [[Vladimir Putin|Putin]].]]
{{Pundits}}
{{cquote|Watching Hannity talk to [[Laura Ingraham|Ingraham]] is like watching state TV in a banana republic — but with great production values.|||Prof. Tom Nichols<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20200725030933/https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/834242501821214726</ref>}}
{{cquote|How would you like to be in Kabul today, as an American, and you can’t get to the airport? Where are you thinking your life is headed? If you’re one of those family members, I bet you’re not sleeping. … [[Mike Lindell|MyPillow.com]]. That’s where I go. I fall asleep faster, I stay asleep longer.|||Sean Hannity, corporate shilling two days after the [[Taliban]] [[Afghanistan War|seized Kabul]]<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/19/sean-hannity-mypillow-afghanistan-radio-show/ Sean Hannity cuts to commercial] by Alexandra Petri (August 19, 2021) ''The Washington Post''.</ref>}}
{{cquote|Sean, just one broadcaster to another: if you want to change the subject away from Donald Trump, maybe don't go to footage that is so clearly a metaphor for his administration — just a car crash we can't tear our eyes away from.|||Stephen Colbert on the January 29th, 2018, edition of <i>The Late Show with Stephen Colbert</i><ref>https://theweek.com/speedreads/751804/stephen-colbert-wryly-tries-outsean-hannity-sean-hannity-whiplashinducing-defense-trump</ref>}}

'''"Somebody Call"<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95AR87ciruc&list=PL08FD35E184A24E7F&index=1 Trump vs. Clinton ft. Blondie]</ref> Sean Hannity''' {{lived|1961}} is an [[American]] [[right-wing]] political commentator-turned [[conspiracy theorist]] who speaks nothing but [[bullshit|God's Honest Truth]], you rebel scum. At least [[John Boehner|one prominent Republican]] thinks he's nuts.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/10/30/john-boehner-says-he-told-sean-hannity-youre-nuts/ John Boehner says he told Sean Hannity: 'You're nuts'] by Callum Borchers (October 30, 2017 at 10:11 AM) ''The Washington Post''.</ref>

Basically, you know that loud "happy drunk" type on the barstool next to you who's mostly fun when the game is on but tends to spout vaguely [[racist]] gibberish when the TV is off? That one who's [[:Category:Drinking Game|fun to drink with]] but you're pretty certain has the [[IQ]] of a brick? Well, imagine giving him a television and radio show where he goes point-counterpoint against and gets to talk over uninteresting comedian <small>[[Alan Colmes|Alan Colmes]]</small>.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_Nh5IGMo8g "You just contradicted me, you hate America!"]</ref>{{efn|Fun fact: The show was originally called ''Hannity & Liberal to Be Determined'', which FAIR said gives "some idea of the relative weight each host carries, both on-screen and within the network."<ref>[https://fair.org/extra/the-most-biased-name-in-news/ The Most Biased Name in News]</ref>}} In 2009 <small>Colmes</small> was dropped from the ''<big>Hannity</big> and <small>Colmes</small>'' show, and now Hannity has the floor to himself. Now it is titled simply ''Hannity'', and he can spout his non-stop drivel without having an [[Red-baiting|annoying leftie commie]] to keep him in check.

Hannity occasionally substituted on WABC for fellow literal-super-heavyweight<ref group=note>If he's going to keep calling [[Michelle Obama]] fat, he's fair game for this.</ref> motormouth [[Rush Limbaugh]], doing a few stints as his guest host around the same time he started with [[Fox News]]. He was also responsible for inflicting [[neo-Nazi]] shitstirrer [[Hal Turner]] on the world.

==Befriending white supremacists==
Hannity's background as befriending a [[white supremacist]] has been glossed over. Learning from [[David Duke]] ([[Republican|R]]-[[Apartheid|South Africa]]), Hannity has distanced himself from former neo-Nazi pal Hal Turner. Amid accusations that Hannity staffers and "fan boys" have been purging the web on a mission to sanitize Hannity's record,<ref>{{wpl|Talk:Sean_Hannity|Hannity "fan boys"}}</ref> even [[Wikipedia]] has finally acknowledged Hannity's complicity.

Following the [[2008 U.S. presidential election|2008 Presidential elections]], Hannity declared an "underground war, [[guerrilla war]] against [[President Obama]]."<ref name="removed1">[https://hannity.com/ War against President Obama] (funny how that's been removed!)</ref><ref name="removed2">[http://www.foxnews.com/hannitysamerica/ Hannity's America] (funny– that's been removed too!)</ref><ref>[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96648963 Bill Moyers' Contemporary America] (Hannity hasn't gotten to [[NPR]] yet.)</ref>

==Effusive opinions==
Hannity is on record as having spent more than an hour praising the United States as "[[American exceptionalism|The greatest, best, most free country on God's earth, ever]]"; Fareed Zakaria wore a slightly desperate grin throughout. He also has a rather bizarre definition of the word "peace" that appears to have absolutely nothing to do with any acceptable definition on the Internet. Whereas even the usually unreliable Wikipedia calls it "an absence of hostility", Hannity basically likes to think peace means "blowing the shit out of dirty foreigners".<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTCiBHgl_kk You Tube - Check Out Hannity's Definition Of Peace]</ref>

Hannity worked hard in support of the decrees of [[Theocracy|God-King]] [[Dubya]], certain that the [[GOP]] would be in power forever. [[Hypocrisy|Until they weren't]].<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G7btYHdky4 "Sean Hannity Hypocrisy, Changes Opinion on NSA Surveillance" The Rubin Report]</ref><ref>[https://www.rawstory.com/2014/04/john-fugelsang-sean-hannity-is-an-iv-drip-for-denial-for-the-get-off-my-lawn-demographic/ "Sean Hannity has one job: to keep people who were wrong about everything for the last 20 years thinking they've been right about everything."]</ref> His intense man-crush on [[Vladimir Putin]] is way beyond merely strange.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20161105060108/http://www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatches/2014/03/11/poor-humiliated-sean-hannity Poor, Humiliated Sean Hannity, Dispatches from the Culture Wars]</ref>

==Getting owned on television==
In a desperate attempt to further the bias of Fox News, Hannity tried to debate with atheist Dave Silverman on religion and lost miserably. His continuous preaching of religious values seemed illegitimate due to his hostile, frustrated and irrational arguing.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA7g9SngRag</ref> When he realized that he was being outclassed and being exposed for the biased moderator he is, he quickly tried to undermine his opponent via personal attacks. He then closed the debate hastily, realizing what little credibility he had as an anchor was being decimated. The debate was met with strong support towards Dave, and with strong criticism toward's Hannity's unprofessionalism and lack of logical reasoning.

==Scamming via veteran's "charity"==
The Freedom Alliance [[charity]], which claims to raise money for wounded soldiers and survivors of fallen ones, was exposed in early 2010 by hardcore right-wing [[Ann Coulter]] wannabe [[Debbie Schlussel]] as only using three percent of its proceeds for the stated purpose. ([[Stopped clock]]?)

Hannity apparently insists on being flown around in a private jet and having access to a fleet of luxury vehicles for himself and his family on the ground.<ref>[http://www.debbieschlussel.com/6938/sean-hannitys-freedom-concert-scam-only-7-of-charitys-money-went-to-injured-troops-kids-of-fallen-troops-g5s-g6s-for-vannity/ Schlussel's write-up of Hannity's charity shenanigans.] This story had originally been broken three years earlier in 2007 by the [https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2007/8/6/367429/- Daily Kos], but they are liberal commies out to smear a great man by asking questions no rich white conservative should ever have to answer.</ref>

==World records==
*First ever winner in history of the official "Worst Newscaster of FOX" award. [https://www.rawstory.com/2014/12/sean-hannity-has-all-caps-twitter-meltdown-after-being-named-worst-fox-news-host/ Proceeds to celebrate on Twitter.]
*Use of the word "hate" in a single show: 16,535.
*Career usage of the word "hate": 3.226x10<sup><small>27</small></sup>.

=="Ode to Sean Hannity"==
"Ode to Sean Hannity" is a poem written by [[John Cleese]] of [[Monty Python]] fame. It is an addendum of sorts to the [[pwn]]ing of Hannity at the hands of Obama campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs on the special edition of ''Hannity & Colmes'' following the second Presidential debate in [[2008 US Presidential Election|2008]]. The poem was submitted to [[Keith Olbermann]] and was read as part of the number one story on the October 8, 2008 broadcast of ''Countdown with Keith Olbermann'':<ref>Newshounds [https://web.archive.org/web/20081011003646/http://www.newshounds.us/2008/10/09/an_ode_to_sean_hannity_via_olbermann.php reports] on the poem.</ref>

:''An Ode to Sean Hannity''<br>
:''Aping urbanity''<br>
:''Oozing with vanity''<br>
:''Plump as a manatee''<br>
:''Faking humanity''<br>
:''Journalistic calamity''<br>
:''Intellectual inanity''<br>
:''Fox Noise insanity''<br>
:''You're a profanity''<br>
:''Hannity''

==Hillary Clinton==
{{main|Hillary Clinton}}
Although he's obviously not a doctor himself, Hannity seems to have armchair diagnosed Hillary Clinton as an epileptic, or at least given to "having seizures" based on two instances of taking a sip of water, causing coughing, one instance of tripping boarding a plane, and a playful bobbing of her head in response to a number of not so serious questions which she then joked about herself. Let's be grateful he's not a qualified doctor — well, acquiring that degree is probably beyond his talents.

==Don the Con==
{{main|Donald Trump}}
Hannity's relationship with Trump dates back to at least 2012 when Hannity advised Trump not to run in the [[2012 U.S. presidential election]].<ref name=conor>[https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-fox-news-576064 A Short History of Donald's Trump Relationship With Fox News] by Conor Gaffey (3/29/17 at 1:02 PM) ''Newsweek''.</ref> In 2015, when Trump announced that he was running for president, Hannity and Fox were immediate and enthusiastic supporters,<ref name=conor/> a relationship that has been ongoing. The relationship with Trump was so close that White House aides have said that "he basically has a desk in the place" due to Hannity's frequent phone conversations with Trump in the White House.<ref name=costa>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hannitys-rising-role-in-trumps-world-he-basically-has-a-desk-in-the-place/2018/04/17/e2483018-4260-11e8-8569-26fda6b404c7_story.html Hannity's rising role in Trump's world: 'He basically has a desk in the place'] by Robert Costa, Sarah Ellison and Josh Dawsey (April 17, 2018 at 7:53 PM) ''The Washington Post''.</ref>

Hannity has also voiced frequent and strong support for one of Trump's lawyers, Michael Cohen, who is under criminal investigation as of April 2018. Hannity however did not reveal that Cohen is also Hannity's own lawyer, which Cohen's lawyer was forced to reveal in court.<ref name=costa/> This previously unacknowledged relationship between Hannity and Cohen would be a breach of journalistic ethics,<ref>[https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/16/sean-hannity-cohen-attorney-trump-527897 Hannity’s ethics under fire: Fox News host's failure to disclose his relationship with Trump attorney Michael Cohen puts his credibility on the line.] by Michael Calderone (04/16/2018 08:11 PM EDT) ''Politico''.</ref> particularly if Hannity were a journalist.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/is-sean-hannity-a-journalist-or-not-heres-why-it-matters/2018/04/18/ca6b6bc2-431e-11e8-8569-26fda6b404c7_story.html Is Sean Hannity a journalist or not? Here's why it matters.] by Paul Farhi (April 18, 2018 at 5:56 PM) ''The Washington Post''.</ref> Nonetheless, the official word from Fox is that they don't care.<ref name=breuninger>[https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/17/watchdogs-attack-sean-hannity-for-hiding-link-to-trump-lawyer-cohen.html Fox News gives Sean Hannity 'full support' as critics slam him for hiding link to Trump lawyer Michael Cohen] by Kevin Breuninger (April 17, 2018) ''CNBC''.</ref> As of 2018, Cohen, known mainly as a "fixer" rather than as a practicing lawyer, has only three clients, the third one being Elliott Broidy. Broidy resigned as RNC Finance Chair after it was revealed that Cohen arranged for a $1.6 million settlement with "an ex-Playboy model who said she was impregnated by Broidy."<ref name=breuninger/> Given that Cohen paid hush money for sexual affairs for two of his three clients, it does raise questions about what the third client hired him for, particularly because of the [[Fox News#Staffing|widespread sexual harassment that has occurred at Fox]].

==Homophobia and transphobia==
[[File:SeanHannityinSBIndy1.webp|165px|thumb|right|Newspaper article from 1989 reporting on Hannity's firing over homophobic comments.]]
Although not as frequent as it used to be, Hannity's long history of homophobia is something he became infamous for. At one point, it was even something those who supported him were proud of, as one promotional blurb for his radio show in Florida notes that he had been "making a proud name for himself by insulting lesbians."<ref name=Brock>The Republican Noise Machine: Right-Wing Media And How It Corrupts Democracy by David Brock</ref>{{rp|272}} In 1989, he infamously said that “Anyone listening to this show that believes homosexuality is just a normal lifestyle has been brainwashed… these disgusting people,”<ref>[https://www.thepinknews.com/2017/10/11/fox-news-host-sean-hannity-called-aids-a-gay-disease-and-lashed-out-at-gay-brainwashing/ Fox News host Sean Hannity called AIDS a ‘gay disease’ and lashed out at gay ‘brainwashing’]</ref> although he has since called these statements "ignorant and embarrassing."<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/sean-hannity-gay-people-aids-lgbt-homosexuality-sewer-comments-college-radio-a7995696.html Sean Hannity 'called AIDS a gay disease' and compared homosexuality to 'playing in a sewer']</ref>

Hannity also said much of this while interviewing Gene Antonio, author of the pseudo-scientific book ''The AIDS Cover-up? The Real and Alarming Facts About AIDS''. During the interview, Antonio said gay men "were cutting the claws off of gerbils, and prying their teeth out, and stuffing them up their rectums" and "eat one another's fecal matter."<ref>[https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/flashback-repulsive-anti-gay-comments-once-got-sean-hannity-fired FLASHBACK: The Repulsive Anti-Gay Comments That Once Got Sean Hannity Fired]</ref> These comments have occasionally been misattributed to Hannity, although he did not push back against these statements when they were made by the person he was talking to.

Hannity's obsession with homosexuals is something that was specifically common during the 2000s, with David Brock writing in 2004 that his radio show "reflects Hannity's preoccupation with sex, especially gay sex."<ref name=Brock/>{{rp|272}} He also has been known to attack transgender people, often [[concern troll]]ing them on his shows. A 2023 episode of Hannity had him and [[Dana Loesch]] mock [[Fun:California|California]]’s transgender protections that was signed by California governor Gavin Newsom. <ref>[https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/hannity-loesch-mock-california-transgender-protections-youre-gonna-force-acceptance Hannity, Loesch Mock California Transgender Protections: “You're Gonna Force Acceptance?, Media Matters for America]</ref>

==See also==
*[[Conservative talk radio]]
==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}
==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

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