Sean Hannity supporters are destroying their Keurig machines after the coffee giant cut advertising on the Fox News show following its coverage of Alabama senate candidate Roy Moore.
Keurig said over the weekend that it would no longer run ads on Hannity’s show following his interview with the embattled candidate, prompting a backlash from protesters on social media.
In addition to the coffee giant, Volvo announced on Monday that it was the latest company to cut its advertisements from the Fox News show.
Moore is being accused of having pursued inappropriate sexual relationships with teenage girls and women while he was a district attorney in Alabama during the 1970s.
Keurig said over the weekend that it would no longer run ads on Hannity’s show following his interview with Roy Moore
It’s unclear when Keurig stopped advertising on Hannity, but the move has prompted several people to destroy products from the coffee giant in protest and post videos to social media with the hashtag, #BoycottKeurig. Pictured above, someone throws a Keurig off a balcony
One conservative college student shared a video of someone throwing a Keurig machine off of a balcony in protest of the company
It’s unclear when Keurig stopped advertising on Hannity, but the move has prompted several people to destroy products from the coffee giant in protest and post videos to social media with the hashtag, #BoycottKeurig.
People were filmed using baseball bats and other items to break apart the coffee machines.
In one video a man wearing a helmet and sanals ‘pulled an Office Space’ and destroyed the coffee maker with a bat, like characters did with a fax machine in the film.
One conservative college student shared a video of someone throwing a Keurig machine off of a balcony in protest of the company.
Hannity reposted one of the videos on Twitter with the comment ‘love it.’
Some of Hannity’s supporters also vowed to return their Keurig coffee machines they purchased for Christmas.
Some of Hannity’s supporters also vowed to return their Keurig coffee machines they purchased for Christmas. Pictured above, someone destroying their coffee machine
In one video a man wearing a helmet and sanals ‘pulled an Office Space’ and destroyed the coffee maker with a bat, like characters did with a fax machine in the film
‘Keurig, thank you bringing this to our attention. Seeing you have opted to stop your ad from airing during the Sean Hannity Show, I will be returning two Keurigs I just bought as Christmas gifts & will be discarding my own,’ one Twitter user posted.
‘Dear Other Companies Considering Pulling Ads from Hannity: You too can be number one trending topic on Twitter for nationwide boycott, supported by half the country. Make our day,’ wrote another.
Not all the feedback was negative, however, with some praising the coffee giant’s decision to distance itself from Hannity’s program.
‘Looks like my wife is switching from a Nestle machine to a @Keurig for Christmas. Bravo. We must speak out with our wallets. Do not #BoycottKeurig,’ one person tweeted.
‘Don’t #BoycottKeurig, they pulled their ads from Hannity & deserve to be celebrated for it.’
The CEO of Waterbury, Vermont-based Keurig later apologized to employees for ‘any negativity’ they faced after the brand pulled advertisements from Hannity.
Moore is being accused of having pursued inappropriate sexual relationships with teenage girls and women while he was a district attorney in Alabama during the 1970s
Supporters of the host have begun posting #BoycottKeurig on Twitter, leading to the hashtag trending on the social media platform (stock images)
In a memo obtained by the Washington Post’s Erik Wemple, CEO Bob Gamgort said the decision to ‘pause’ advertising on Hannity was ‘highly unusual’ and ‘outside company protocols’.
‘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,’ he said.
He continued: ‘Clearly this is an unacceptable situation that requires an overhaul of our issues response and external communications policies and introduction of safeguards to ensure this never happens again…
‘The nature of social media and the internet news environment is that stories like this explode, and generally do not disappear quickly.’
Over the last week, two women claimed Moore made inappropriate sexual conact with them when they were under 18.
The Washington Post published the allegations on Thursday that Moore had inappropriate sexual contact with a then 14-year-girl named Leigh Corfman while in his early 30s.
Moore vehemently denies the allegations, saying that he believes the timing of the accusations are aimed at undermining his candidacy
The companies did not cite Hannity’s comments as the reason why they were pulling their sponsorship.
A second woman then accused the Alabaman of groping her when she was a teenager in the late 1970s, the latest setback to his effort to win an open Senate seat that suddenly seems up for grabs.
Beverly Young Nelson, now 56, detailed new allegations to reporters in an emotional appearance in New York.
One night when she was 16, Moore offered to drive her home from her after-school job at a restaurant in Gadsden, Alabama, she said.
Moore, a regular customer, instead parked behind the restaurant and locked the door to keep her inside, squeezing her neck while trying to push her head toward his crotch and trying to pull her shirt off, Nelson said.
‘I thought that he was going to rape me,’ she said.
Moore stopped and as she left the car he warned no one would believe her because he was a county prosecutor, Nelson said. She said her neck was ‘black and blue and purple’ the next morning.
‘I can tell you without hesitation this is absolutely false,’ Moore said Monday at an abruptly called news conference in Gallant, Alabama, after the latest allegations were made. ‘I never did what she said I did. I don’t even know the woman.’
While speaking to Hannity, however, Moore admitted that after his return from the military, he ‘dated a lot of young ladies’.
Many of Hannity’s supporters outrage that the company was taking a political stance on Moore
Not all the feedback was negative, however, with some praising the coffee giants decision to distance itself from Hannity’s program
Following the interview, some sponsors announced their decision not to run advertisements on Hannity’s show via Twitter after the Fox News host asked his audience to give Moore the benefit of the doubt, according to CNBC News.
‘We can confirm that we do not have advertisements running on this program,’ Nature’s Bounty said on Twitter Friday.
‘While we continually strategize on where we advertise on and offline, we are not currently, and will not be running TV ads on Hannity,’ Realtor.com posted, as well.
Volvo confirmed it was ending its advertising on Monday, saying: ‘We have spoken with our media agency and have advised them to cease advertising on the show’.
The companies did not cite Hannity’s comments as the reason why they were pulling their sponsorship.
It appears, however, that the they made their decision after getting feedback from social media users and the general public to distance themselves from the program.
‘We’ve received inquiries RE: advertising on Hannity,’ 23 and Me wrote on Twitter on Friday. ‘We are not running TV advertising on Hannity. We continue to closely evaluate where we advertise.’
Moore, 70, is currently Republican party’s nominee to take over a senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions, who became head of the Justice Department in the Trump administration in January.
Voting kicks off less than four weeks, with Moore going up against Democrat Doug Jones in a special election.