Sean Hannity is grandstanding over the release of his big race tape bombshell – showing Obama speaking at an event previously covered by Fox News in 2007 - but Hannity has quite a selective concern for race baiting and bigotry. While he displays an acute sensitivity to racial slights against whites, Hannithy is accepting – and often outright hospitable – to those against blacks. He also has a long history of palling around with bigots - including a guy who thanks God for slavery and compares slave ships to flying coach in an airplane.
Here’s a list of some of the bigots Hannity has defended and/or befriended:
Don Imus – Also, his sidekick in the “nappy-headed ho” infamy is a regular guest on Hannity.
Mel Gibson – After his anti-Semitic meltdown, Hannity spent half a show rehabbing Gibson’s image. Later, Hannity portrayed Gibson as some kind of victim of liberalism.
Duane “Dog” Chapman – He got a full hour of Hannity rehab after an n-word laden video surfaced. In another segment, Hannity vilified African Americans as part of his Dog defense. In yet another Dog defense, Hannity said Dog’s repeated use of the n-word to describe his son’s girlfriend was “equivalent to him cursing.”
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson – Peterson has made many racially-charged accusations on Hannity’s shows – without any challenge. But nothing he’s said on the air compares to Peterson thanking God for slavery and comparing slave ships to flying coach. Hannity is on the advisory board of Peterson’s charity.
Hal Turner – Max Blumenthal reported on Hannity’s relationship with white supremacist Turner in a 2005 article in The Nation. Blumenthal wrote:
For years, Hannity offered his top-rated radio show as a regular forum for Turner’s occasionally racist, always over-the-top rants. Hannity also chatted with him off-air, allegedly offering encouragement to Turner as he struggled to overcome a cocaine habit and homosexual leanings. Turner has boasted that Hannity once invited Turner and his son on to the set of Fox News’s Hannity and Colmes. Today, Turner lurks on the fringes of the far right, spouting hate-laced tirades on his webcast radio show. Hannity, meanwhile, remains mum about his former alliance with the neo-Nazi, homing in instead on the supposed racism of black and Latino Democrats.
My 2008 post gives more details on the kind of sickening person Turner is.
Meanwhile, Hannity’s ears are very, very tender when it comes to anything that even hints of bigotry toward whites.
Hannity wasted no time cozying up to Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman. In a bizarre, hour-long interview in which Hannity acted more like a defense attorney than an interviewer, Hannity seemed to agree when Zimmerman said he felt he was due an apology from civil rights leaders.
Hannity was almost certainly the only national news host to present the Jena 6 controversy as an issue of black racism against whites.
Hannity discussed on not one, not two but three nights the "issue" of an unknown black man’s statement that whites should be exterminated.
So while people consider the significance (or not) of Hannity’s race tape, it’s just as, if not more important, to consider who’s promoting it and why.
But what about Mexicans? Gays and lesbians? And women in general? Who are Hannity’s pals who target and bash these groups?