October 5, 2016 | No Comments
Fox News anchor Sean Hannity accused fellow network anchor Megyn Kelly of supporting Hillary Clinton after she criticized Donald Trump for refusing to conduct interviews in “unsafe spaces,” opting instead for the safe confines of Hannity’s show.
“Donald Trump, with all due respect to my friend at 10 o’clock, will go on ‘Hannity’ and pretty much only ‘Hannity’ and will not venture out to the unsafe spaces these days which doesn’t exactly expand the tent for either one of them,” Kelly said during a Wednesday broadcast of “The Kelly File.”
Hannity was quick to respond on social media, tweeting directly at Kelly, telling her to direct her ire at Hillary Clinton instead, adding: “Clearly you support her.”
@megynkelly u should be mad at @HillaryClinton Clearly you support her. And @realDonaldTrump did talk to u. https://t.co/vsQiNMgHut
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) October 6, 2016
Later challenged on social media to “stand by your colleagues,” Hannity took another swipe at Kelly, saying that he would do so “when they stand by me.”
Sure. When they stand by me. https://t.co/UrFbBVfEMI
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) October 6, 2016
Hannity, who has hosted Trump dozens of times during the campaign, has been an outspoken supporter of the Republican nominee, telling viewers during a broadcast in June that he’d be casting his vote for the real estate mogul come November.
Hannity was featured prominently in a Trump presidential campaign ad in late August, prompting Fox to prohibit him from appearing in any future promotional materials for his candidacy.
Trump referenced Hannity during the first presidential debate at Hofstra University last week as a source to back up his unsubstantiated claim that he opposed the Iraq war prior to the 2003 invasion.
Following the debate, Kelly told viewers that Trump was scheduled to talk to Hannity, adding a comment that many took as a slight at her fellow Fox host.
“We’ve got Trump speaking to our own Sean Hannity,” she said. “We’ll see if he speaks to the journalists in this room after that interview.”
Days later, in a quickly leaked rebuke that was clearly aimed at Hannity, Fox News executive Dana Blanton sent a memo admonishing unnamed on-air talent for touting unscientific online fan polls declaring Trump the winner.
In contrast to Hannity’s unabashed advocacy, Kelly’s relationship with Trump has been openly contentious, with the two trading barbs on air and on social media as recently as Tuesday’s vice presidential debate, when Trump refuted Kelly’s observation that he was “surrounded by his team” as he live-tweeted the event.
.@megynkelly– I am in Nevada. Sorry to inform you Kellyanne is in the audience. Better luck next time.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2016
Trump has repeatedly attacked Kelly in strikingly personal terms since the first GOP presidential debate on Fox News, when she pushed him to defend his past remarks about women.
Afterwords, Trump called Kelly a “loser” and a “bimbo” on his Twitter account, and described her as “sick” and “overrated.” He also said in a TV interview that Kelly had “blood coming out of her eyes — blood coming out of her whatever.” Fox defended Kelly aggressively, and it reportedly took the personal intervention of former network chief Roger Ailes to get Trump to stand down.
Trump skipped a Fox-hosted debate in January ahead of the Iowa caucuses, saying that Kelly, a co-moderator, would be biased against him. He later attended a debate hosted by Kelly without incident, but continued to criticize her in the weeks that followed for booking anti-Trump guests on her show.
“Donald Trump’s vitriolic attacks against Megyn Kelly and his extreme, sick obsession with her is beneath the dignity of a presidential candidate who wants to occupy the highest office in the land” Fox responded.
In April, Kelly visited him at Trump Tower to “clear the air,” she said on her show at the time — and to tee up Trump’s later appearance on her primetime special.
Kelly has been booed by live audiences on Hannity’s program, but in May, she credited Hannity as “somebody who behind the scenes tried to cool the temperatures off” during her feud with Trump.
“And he didn’t have to do it,” she said. “He did, so I’m grateful to him.”
Wednesday’s exchange between the two Fox stars comes as competition has continued to heat up within the network, with Hannity recently overtaking Kelly in cable news ratings among the prized 25 to 54 demographic for the month of September.
Hadas Gold contributed.