Comments@THE GUSS REPORT-The “free” in freedom of speechcan come with a costly price tag when those who exercise it mistakenly assume it is limitless and without repercussions.
Laura Ingraham, say hello to your newsideline bench-mate Colin Kaepernick.
Ingraham, a veteran talk show host took a leave (or perhaps was placed on leave) from her brand new show, The Ingraham Angle, on Fox News Channel after Tweeting that a scholarly Florida high school student named David Hogg (who became highly visible in calling for stronger gun control after the recent massacre at his Florida high school) was “whining”about not getting into several public California universities. What Ingraham had hoped to accomplish with that descriptor is anyone’s guess.
Hogg, who,at the dawn of 2018,prior to the massacre,was living the anonymous life of an average American teen, punched back (whether on his own or with help from allegedly dark forces behind the scenes) and successfully called for a boycott of her advertisers.
Over the past several days, those advertisers, includingHulu, TripAdviser, Nestlé, Nutrish and Miracle Ear, to name a few, headed for the exit knowing the unsettling power of social media, young people and controversy. They also know the potential impact that Ingraham supporters could inflict for pulling their advertising.
Ingraham, who says that her week-off is due to a scheduled vacation with her three adopted children, only apologized once those advertisers pulled out from her show. But even then, her apology was wanting, suggesting that it was motivated by the spirit of the Good Friday/Easter holiday season rather than bya moment of sheer stupidity.
A graduate of Dartmouth and the now9th highest ranking law school in the U.S., the University of Virginia, Ingraham is now getting hit from both sides, as many in her ocean of supporters (she is the most listened-to female conservative voice in the United States) are complaining she should not have apologized for speaking factually about Hogg.
Either way, the marketplace has spoken, and it will be interesting to see whether she returns to FNC, and how her syndicated radio show will be impacted, both of which will almost exclusively be determined by advertisers and social media chatter.
Sitting on the proverbial sideline bench with Ingraham is still-very-good-but-never-great former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who just five years ago was the starting QB for the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII, in which he had a stellar performance in a game his team lost.
In 2016, Kaepernick caused a major, season-long disruption to the League by refusing to stand for the national anthem in protest of perceived racial injustice and abuse of people of color by law enforcement. Several other players joined Kaepernick, resulting in a severe backlash from viewers that caused television ratings to plummet.
Kaepernick then opted out of his contract but has not been picked up by any other NFL team since then. The 49ers said that had Kaepernick not opted out, he would have been dropped. Many in the professional football universe believe that Kaepernick, still a highly capable player, is being blackballed from the league. But, provided that the owners are not conspiring to keep him unemployed, he is being treated no differently than Ingraham. The marketplace has spoken.
There are limits to free speech. We can’t use it to incite a panic or threaten violence. And we are not immune to the repercussions of exercising it.If there is any solace to be taken by Ingraham and Kaepernick, it is from one Roseanne Barr who at one time was so ubiquitous, she was simply known by her first name.
In 1990, she “sang” the national anthem before a San Diego Padres baseball gamewith disastrous results, after allegedly being encouraged by baseball officials to “bring humor to the song.” But as the ratings from last week’s reboot of her highly successful 80s and 90s ABC sitcom (that soared far beyond anyone’s expectations) illustrate, one can always make a comeback. The show has just been picked up by ABC.
A“season” to one controversial figure, however, is different than that for another. The unique problem for Kaepernick is that his profession, unlike those of Ingraham and Barr, is limited by age and atrophy. Where Ingraham and Kaepernick will be this time next year is anyone’s guess. But Barr is clearly headed back to the top.
(Daniel Guss, MBA, is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, and has contributed to CityWatch, KFI AM-640, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Magazine, Movieline Magazine, Emmy Magazine, Los Angeles Business Journal and elsewhere. Follow him on Twitter @TheGussReport. Verifiable tips and story ideas can be sent to him at [email protected]. His opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of CityWatch.) Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
