Sean Hannity

Sean Hannity
Hannity in 2020
Born
Sean Patrick Hannity

(1961-12-30) December 30, 1961 (age 62)
New York City, U.S.
Occupations
  • Television presenter
  • broadcaster
  • writer
Employer(s)Premiere Networks, Fox News Channel
Political partyConservative Party of New York State[1][2]
Spouse
Jill Rhodes
​
​
(m. 1993; div. 2019)​
Children2
Websitehannity.com
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Sean Patrick Hannity[3] (born December 30, 1961)[4] is an American conservative television presenter, broadcaster and writer.[5][6][7] He hosts The Sean Hannity Show, a nationally syndicated talk radio show, has hosted a self-titled political commentary program on Fox News since 2009, and co-hosted the original Fox News debate show Hannity & Colmes with Alan Colmes from the network's founding in 1996 to 2009.

Hannity worked as a general contractor and volunteered as a talk show host at UC Santa Barbara in 1989. He later joined WVNN in Athens, Alabama, and shortly afterward, WGST in Atlanta. After leaving WGST, he worked at WABC in New York until 2013. Since 2014, Hannity has worked at WOR.[8] In 1996, Hannity and Alan Colmes co-hosted Hannity & Colmes on Fox. After Colmes announced his departure in January 2008, Hannity merged the Hannity & Colmes show into Hannity.[9]

Hannity has said he is not a journalist, and he has been characterized as a propagandist.[10] He has promoted conspiracy theories, such as "birtherism" (claims that then-President Barack Obama was not a legitimate U.S. citizen), claims regarding the murder of Seth Rich, falsehoods about Hillary Clinton's health, and false claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election.[11] Hannity was an early supporter of Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election and often acted as an unofficial spokesman for him.[12] When Trump was president, White House advisors characterized Hannity as the "shadow" chief of staff,[13] and he reportedly phoned the White House and spoke to Trump most weeknights.[14] According to Forbes, by 2018 Hannity had become one of the most-watched hosts in cable news and most-listened-to hosts in talk radio, due in part to his closeness and access to Trump.[14] He privately urged Trump administration officials before and during the January 6 United States Capitol attack to cease some of their efforts to retain the presidency and to urge Trump's supporters to leave the Capitol.[15]

Hannity was among the hosts named in the Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News Network defamation lawsuit for broadcasting false statements about the plaintiff company's voting machines that Fox News settled for $787.5 million and required Fox News to acknowledge that the broadcast statements were false.[16][17] Hannity has an honorary degree from Liberty University. He won awards from the National Association of Broadcasters in 2003 and 2007.[18] He has written three New York Times best-selling books: Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Liberty over Liberalism; Deliver Us from Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism; and Conservative Victory: Defeating Obama's Radical Agenda, and released a fourth, Live Free or Die, in 2020.[19]

  1. ^ "Sean Hannity". PolitiFact.
  2. ^ "Sean Hannity: "I'm not a Republican"". Salon.com. June 19, 2013.
  3. ^ Hannity, Sean Patrick (December 26, 2011). "About Sean Hannity". Hannity.com. Archived from the original on January 5, 2012. Retrieved September 15, 2013.
  4. ^ "Sean Hannity: Television Host, Television Personality (1961–)". Biography.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2020. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
  5. ^ Illing, Sean (March 22, 2019). "How Fox News evolved into a propaganda operation". Vox. Retrieved February 21, 2022.
  6. ^ Horowitz, Julia. "Analysis: Why you won't find Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson on British TV". CNN. Retrieved February 21, 2022.
  7. ^ Darcy, Oliver. "Sean Hannity used to rule Fox. But in the post-Trump era, Tucker Carlson is king". CNN. Retrieved February 21, 2022.
  8. ^ Hinckley, David (September 2, 2013). "Sean Hannity extends contract, paving way for switch from WABC to WOR". New York Daily News. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
  9. ^ Shea, Danny (December 25, 2008). "Alan Colmes to Leave "Hannity and Colmes", Will Not Be Replaced". HuffPost. New York City: Huffington Post Media Group. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  10. ^ Multiple sources:
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Garger, Megan (November 6, 2018). "Sean Hannity Is Trump's Shadow Press Secretary". The Atlantic. Boston, Massachusetts. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference WaPo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ a b Cranley, Ellen (May 14, 2018). "Trump reportedly talks to Sean Hannity most nights before bed". Business Insider. New York City.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Folkenflik, David; Yang, Mary (April 18, 2023). "Fox News settles blockbuster defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems". NPR. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
  17. ^ Davis, Eric (March 31, 2023). "Summary Judgment" (PDF). Superior Court of the State of Delaware. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 31, 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ Concha, Joe (April 29, 2020). "Hannity planning first book in ten years: 'Live Free or Die'". The Hill. Washington, D.C.: Captiol Hill Publishing. Retrieved May 9, 2020.