According to the Independent Journal Review, Sean Hannity has gone “underground” while he decides whether or not he wants to return to Fox News next week.
IJR is not my usual source for news but it is possible they have a source with “intimate knowledge of the internal dealings at Fox News” and close enough to Hannity to provide reliable information about his thinking. Here’s what IJR reported last night:
Hannity has gone “underground” and is actively considering whether or not he will return to Fox News on Tuesday, a source close to Hannity told Independent Journal Review.
[…]
[T]he well-placed source said Hannity has since retreated to isolation — even temporarily “swearing off” social media — while he makes a decision regarding his future at Fox News. Hannity’s last tweet was posted on Thursday afternoon.
[…]
The source, who possesses intimate knowledge of the internal dealings at Fox News, said Hannity feels like the network failed to sufficiently support him after he came under attack. The source also alleged there may be an active campaign to force him out of the network — led by none other than James Murdoch.
Hannity fueled speculation about his future at Fox when he announced he’d be taking last Thursday and Friday off. He’s in the middle of a controversy over his specious promotion of conspiracy theories about the murder of a DNC staffer last summer, he has lost several advertisers and he was clearly distressed over the firing of Fox executive Bill Shine.
I have no doubt Hannity will leave Fox News in the not-too-distant future given that Hannity said Shine's departure would be "the total end of the FNC as we know it." However, I’m personally skeptical that Hannity would pick this moment to leave Fox because it would look like he's bowing to pressure.
Plus, let's not forget he’s right in the middle of saving the country from the Destroy Trump Media!
(H/T NewsHound Richard)
(Hannity caricature by Nina Brodsky)
Stories about Hannie Pie’s behavior is making its rounds in all media. All of it is not flattering.
Pie does not back down easily. He demonstrated that in 1989 when he worked at the radio station in Santa Barbara. There were plenty of yelling matches between him and radio staffers. He left that station when his demands weren’t met.
Pie pictures himself as David, and the Murdoch boys as Goliath. He believes, with the help of his loyal audience, that he could take down the brothers. He will lose that battle.
On the other hand, if there is a move within Fox News to drop him, he could try to pre-empt it. But that assumes Fox News wants to completely kill their prime time lineup.
If there is one surprising irony in this Year of the Bully, it’s that Fox News has foundered so badly. Who would have thought 12 months ago that Fox News would go into this kind of a slide, with Mike Pence running the White House and Donald Trump acting as the national spokesman for the Right? Who would have thought that Fox News would lose three out of four of their prime time anchors in quick succession, and would find themselves losing to MSNBC?
If anything, it’s reassuring to see that most viewers are not buying what Tucker Carlson is desperately trying to sell them, and that The Five really isn’t ready for Prime Time.
I don’t think he’ll be walking away unless he gets a golden parachute.
There’s also funny stories about this old hack. He would be assigned a bodyguard when he’s out on location for the Foxies. These bodyguards look like retired wrestlers. They would follow Pie everywhere, including the men’s restroom. That bodyguard should have received extra pay for that one.
There’s one Irish bar not to far from this demonic network that is popular stomping place for Pie and Fox “News”/News Corporation employees. This place serves lunch, dinner and late night food. Pie loves coming to this place for a few drinks and a meal. It’s considered a high-end eatery which fits in with his high-end tastes.
Most people don’t know this, but he likes to bring in family members to this network. There is one particular guy who is related to Pie through marriage. He’s a decent guy, who unfortunately, is related to this Omen. Fortunate for him he doesn’t have Pie’s last name.
The juicy gems are reserved for the media, and those are the ones that are not released to the public-for now.
Pie does beat to his own drum. No one likes him. Foxies talk about him behind his back like a dog-our apologizes to dogs. He’s an embarrassment to professional journalism. He’s a child in a man’s body. He complains, whines, rants about being treated unfairly. So what! He says people who thought were his friends, i.e., colleagues don’t respect him. So what!
He has no allies left at the Foxies. Ailes is dead in the grave. Shine is gone, and so are the rest of the cast of characters. If he is so upset about his colleagues who talk behind his back to the media, he can take Geraldo to Langan’s and cry in his beer.
By the way, Geraldo is a waste of payroll. He has sold out Fox “News” employees. He needs to go, too.