Hannity calls for Keurig protesters to stand down after company CEO apologizes for pulling ads

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Hannity: Conservative voices facing a clear, present danger

Media Matters for America exploited Keurig.

Fox News’ Sean Hannity called Monday night for a “cease-fire,” asking fans to quit smashing their Keurig coffeemakers, after critics blasted the company for moving to pull its advertising from his show over his coverage of sexual assault accusations against U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore.

“Please stop smashing your Keurig coffee machines,” Hannity said in his monologue Monday night, explaining that the coffee company was “a victim in all of this.”

Conservatives took to social media over the weekend to post videos of themselves throwing out, or destroying, their Keurig machines after the company tweeted Saturday that it “worked with our media partner and FOX news to stop our ad from airing during the Sean Hannity Show.”

Hannity said the liberal group Media Matters for America was responsible for targeting his advertisers after critics said he seemed to defend Moore, who was accused last week of having sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl in 1979. Hannity said critics took his statements out of context.

Keurig’s CEO, Bob Gamgort, addressed the situation in an email to company employees obtained by The Washington Post, calling the situation “unacceptable” and said the move “was done outside of company protocols.”

The memo explained the company advertises to both liberal and conservative networks, “which will continue.” Gamgort told employees, “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.”

Hannity said Keurig was “preyed upon by the most anti-free speech, pro-censorship group in the United States today. It is a group that is bought and paid for by friends and supporters of the Clintons and as you may have seen, the radical leftist group Media Matters for America.” He added that Media Matters “launched yet another smear campaign against me to try to get me thrown off the air and get rid of all my advertisers.”

If Media Matters “and their paid pack of hitmen” had their way, according to Hannity, “there would be no Fox News Channel. … There would be no dissent, no difference of opinion, no free exchange of ideas.”

The Fox News host stated that “what Keurig did was a mistake, and the CEO admitted it” and reiterated that people should stop smashing their machines.

Media Matters responded late Monday in a statement to Fox News, "While Hannity and his supporters were busy today smashing coffee makers, six more advertisers either removed their ads from Hannity’s show or confirmed that they will not run ads on Hannity’s show going forward."