Sean Hannity Loses Advertisers Over Seth Rich Story

(RTTNews) - Several companies have pulled advertisements from Sean Hannity's Fox News show after he continued to promote a conspiracy theory about Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich's death.

Hannity has come under fire for spreading a conspiracy theory linking Rich's killing to Wikileaks. According to the widely discredited theory, Rich was shot and killed near his home in Northwest Washington last year because he had leaked DNC e-mails to WikiLeaks. However, the police say Rich died in a botched robbery.

Automotive classifieds site Cars.com was the first company that announced its decision to remove its advertisements from the Sean Hannity Show.

"We don't have the ability to influence content at the time we make out advertising purchase. In this case, we've been watching closely and have recently made the decision to pull our advertising from Hannity," Cars.com stated.

At-home exercise company Peloton later said it has directed its media agency to stop advertising on Sean Hannity's show, adding that it will take a few days to take effect.

The mattress maker Leesa Sleep and military financial services company USAA also said they will no longer advertise on Hannity's show. Crowne Plaza Hotels, outdoor home security company Ring and online mattress retailer Casper also said they have cut ties with Hannity.

After facing a barrage of criticism, Fox News retracted a story promoting the conspiracy story and removed it from its website. Fox News said in a statement that the article "was not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting."

But Hannity continued to push the conspiracy story on his radio show, saying, "All you in the liberal media, I am not Fox.com or Foxnews.com; I retracted nothing."

Rich's parents, Mary and Joel Rich, have described the conspiracy theories as a "nightmare".

In April, several companies pulled advertisements from Fox News host Bill O'Reilly's show amid numerous allegations of sexual harassment against the popular television personality.