Hannity: ‘Liberal Fascists’ Waging ‘Coordinated’ Effort to Silence Conservatives
Fox host rips retracted harassment allegations, warns all right-leaning voices in danger.
Fox News host Sean Hannity vehemently condemned the “well-orchestrated effort by the intolerant left” to “silence every conservative voice” in media during his opening monologue on Monday’s “Hannity.”
The conservative host told viewers he felt compelled to speak when attorney and blogger Debbie Schlussel alleged Friday that he had sexually harassed her. After Hannity pushed back, Schlussel retracted her claim, telling LawNewz, “Sexual harassment has a special meaning under the law, and I would never accuse [Hannity] of that.”
“I can no longer remain silent, and I can no longer let the left’s slander against me slide.”
“I have to start tonight by addressing a well-orchestrated effort by the intolerant left in this country that is designed to silence every conservative voice and by any means necessary,” Hannity said on his Fox News show.
“This is not about Sean Hannity. This is not about one person. There is now a coordinated attempt to silence the voice of every outspoken conservative in this country,” Hannity continued. “If we don’t stop this right now, there won’t be any conservative voices on radio and television left.”
The Fox News host dubbed Schlussel a “serial harasser” in a statement over the weekend, claiming that she has been “lying about me for well over a decade” and made “provably false statements.” Hannity also said he was gathering a legal team to take action against Schlussel.
“Now the breaking point came this weekend when an individual who for over a decade has made the most outrageous, unfair, untrue allegations against me, has now resurfaced by making ridiculous and completely untrue claims,” Hannity said, adding, “I can no longer remain silent, and I can no longer let the left’s slander against me slide.”
If any person or group attempts to slander his name or lie about him, Hannity promised to call them out on it because “enough is enough.”
The attempts to “silence” Hannity are just part of a larger liberal campaign to purge conservative voices from radio and television, Hannity said. Noting that he has worked with radio for 30 years and has spent over 21 years at Fox News, Hannity said there have “always been efforts and attempts to smear and slander and besmirch me and other conservatives, but it has never been as intense and completely insane as it is right now.”
“I want you to understand — every single minute, every single second I am on the air, radio, TV, there is somebody likely being paid, recording and monitoring every single word that comes out of my mouth, all in the hopes that I may say something they can twist and distort and use against me and try and destroy my reputation — get my conservative voice off the air,” Hannity said.
Ever since President Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign and ultimately won on Election Day, liberals and pundits have been unusually hypercritical of every person who publicly supported the president, Hannity said.
“And quite simply, these liberal fascists, they can’t stand conservative voices,” Hannity said. “It has only gotten worse in the age of President Trump … everyone who has publicly supported President Trump is a target. This is very political.”
Noting that he has unabashedly supported Trump throughout his campaign and continues to agree with his policies, the Fox News host claimed these facts have made him a target.
“Unlike the left, I don’t have any problem with what the other side says,” Hannity said. “If you want to listen to liberals on radio or TV, read their articles, follow them on social media, go for it. Now I’ll call them out for their bias. I’ll explain why they’re wrong. I’ll debate them. But I’ll never, ever say they should be silenced and I won’t support boycotts to attack their advertisers — a roundabout way of silencing them.”
