Fox News host Sean Hannity during a Monday interview with Rick Santorum, who was just fired by CNN, said an NBC executive thanked him for defending MSNBC’s Joy Reid and helping her keep her job.
“When Joy Reid was in trouble, I was called by an NBC executive who said your public comments played a big role in us being able to keep her, meaning her job,” Hannity said. “She wrote me a nice note.”
In 2018, MSNBC anchor Reid was facing criticism for past offensive blog posts.
In her blog, Reid shared a photoshopped image of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) that depicted him as the shooter in the 2007 Virginia Tech mass shooting.
She also wrote a post promoting “Loose Change,” a 9/11 conspiracy documentary co-produced by InfoWars founder Alex Jones.
NBCUniversal, the parent company of MSNBC, did not answer questions from The Hill about Hannity’s comments.
“I’ve never, I never supported [a firing]. I never will,” Hannity said while talking to Santorum, whom CNN fired recently in the wake of comments he made dismissing the influence of Indigenous people on U.S. culture.
Hannity said he took a similar position when comedian Bill Maher was called out for statements he made about the 9/11 terrorists.
ABC ultimately canceled Maher’s show, ”Politically Incorrect,” after the comedian disagreed that the 9/11 terrorists were cowards but said that some U.S. military actions were. “We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away,” Maher said at the time.
“I don’t want Bill Maher fired. … As a matter of fact, I defended him. Didn’t want him fired from ABC at the time,” Hannity told Santorum.
CNN let Santorum go over comments he made during an April gathering of the conservative group Young America’s Foundation.
The former Republican senator said the U.S. had “birthed a nation from nothing. I mean, there was nothing here. I mean, yes, we have Native Americans, but, candidly, there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture.”
On Saturday, CNN confirmed it fired him specifically for those comments.
“Leadership wasn’t particularly satisfied with that appearance. None of the anchors wanted to book him,” the CNN executive told the HuffPost. “So he was essentially benched anyway.”
There is no opportunity today, Hannity added, for forgiveness after someone makes an error.
“I said, people could make mistakes and move on. But not anymore. Now it’s oh, if you say something you can’t even revise and extend your remarks, apologize, explain in more detail what you meant. Nobody wants to hear,” he said.