ATLANTA: Fox News show host Laura Ingraham announced on her show late on Friday that she is taking the week off, with many advertisers dropping her show after the conservative pundit mocked a teenage survivor of the Florida school
massacre on Twitter.
At least 12 companies have pulled their ads after a pushback by Parkland student David Hogg, 17, who called for a boycott of her advertisers.
The latest company to drop Ingraham’s show, “The Ingraham Angle,” was the international pharmaceutical giant Bayer.
The company said on Saturday on Twitter: “We have stopped advertising on Laura Ingraham and we have no plans to resume any time in the future.”
A Fox News Channel spokes-woman said Ingraham was taking a pre-planned spring vacation with her children.
Hogg took aim at the host’s show after she taunted him on Twitter on March 28, accusing him of whining about being rejected by four colleges to which he had applied.
Hogg is a survivor of the Feb. 14 mass shooting that killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the Parkland suburb of Fort Lauderdale. He and other classmates have become the faces of a new youth-led movement calling for tighter restrictions on firearms.
Hogg tweeted a list of a dozen companies that advertise on “The Ingraham Angle” and urged his supporters to demand that they cancel their ads.
On Thursday, Ingraham tweeted an apology, saying she was sorry for any hurt or upset she had caused Hogg or any of the “brave victims” of Parkland.
But her apology did not stop companies from departing.
The other companies announcing that they are canceling their ads are: Nutrish, the pet food line created by celebrity chef Rachael Ray; travel website TripAdviser; online home furnishings seller Wayfair; the world’s largest packaged food company, Nestle; online streaming service Hulu; travel website Expedia Group Inc.; and online personal shopping service Stitch Fix.
According to CBS News, four other companies joined the list on Friday: the home office supply store Office Depot, the dieting company Jenny Craig, the Atlantis Paradise Island resort, and Johnson & Johnson which produces pharmaceuticals as well as consumer products such as Band-Aids, Neutrogena beauty products and Tylenol.
Hogg wrote on Twitter that an apology simply to mollify advertisers was insufficient.
Ingraham’s show runs on Fox News, part of Rupert Murdoch’s Twenty-First Century Fox.
Fox host on the run as advertisers flee amid controversy over Twitter remarks
Fox host on the run as advertisers flee amid controversy over Twitter remarks
Tucker Carlson claims he was detained at Israeli airport
DUBAI: Earlier this week, Tucker Carlson flew to Israel to interview US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, according to media reports.
Carlson, who reportedly refused to leave Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport complex, conducted the interview at the airport, after which he said he and his staff were detained and their passports were seized.
“Men who identified themselves as airport security took our passports, hauled our executive producer into a side room and then demanded to know what we spoke to Ambassador Huckabee about,” Carlson said in a statement to The New York Post.
However, Carlson’s claims have been contradicted by Huckabee and Israeli authorities.
Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and Fox News host, said on social media platform X that “EVERYONE who comes in/out of Israel (every country for that matter) has passports checked & routinely asked security questions,” including himself, despite holding a diplomatic passport and visa.
Thanks @EFischberger for a more accurate report. EVERYONE who comes in/out of Israel (every country for that matter) has passports checked & routinely asked security questions. Even ME going in/out with Diplomatic Passport & Diplomatic Visa. https://t.co/UbblLiznMO
— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) February 18, 2026
The US Embassy in Israel also described the interaction as routine passport control procedures.
The Israel Airports Authority said in a statement that Carlson and his staff “were not detained, delayed, or interrogated.”
They were asked “a few routine questions, in accordance with standard procedures applied to many travelers,” and this conversation took place in a separate room within the VIP lounge to protect their privacy, the statement added.
“No unusual incident occurred, and the Israel Airports Authority firmly rejects any other claims.”
Israeli Airports Authority:
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) February 18, 2026
Contrary to the reports, Tucker Carlson and his entourage were not detained, delayed, or interrogated.
Mr. Carlson and his party were politely asked a few routine questions, in accordance with standard procedures applied to many travelers.
The…
Carlson has faced criticism in recent years over his commentary on Israel, with critics accusing him of amplifying narratives that are hostile to Israel and, at times, antisemitic. He has also questioned Israel’s treatment of Christian communities in the region.
After Fox News canceled his show in April 2023, he launched his own program, “The Tucker Carlson Show” in 2024.
The show has featured controversial figures, including Darryl Cooper, who has made statements widely condemned as Holocaust denial, and white nationalist commentator Nick Fuentes.
In his interview with Fuentes, Carlson labeled Huckabee a “Christian Zionist.”
Carlson has also criticized Huckabee for not doing enough to protect Christian interests in the region. In one video, he said: “Why not go ahead and talk to Christians and find out their side of the story? Why aren’t American Christian leaders like Mike Huckabee or Ted Cruz, people who invoke the Christian Bible to justify what they’re doing, why haven’t they done this?”
Huckabee responded to the video on X, writing: “Instead of talking ABOUT me, why don’t you come talk TO me? You seem to be generating a lot of heat about the Middle East. Why be afraid of the light?”
Carlson accepted the invitation, and their teams coordinated the interview, leading to his brief visit to Israel.
