Fox News Channel lent support to its best-known anchor Sean Hannity, saying Thursday that the popular host would return to its air next week following a Memorial Day holiday vacation—an effort to tamp down speculation that a controversy currently enveloping Hannity could escalate further.

"Like the rest of the country, Sean Hannity is taking a vacation for Memorial Day weekend and will be back on Tuesday," the 21st Century Fox-owned network said in a statement. "Those who suggest otherwise are going to look foolish."

I despise looking foolish, so let's be clear: A freshly tanned Sean Hannity is probably not going to return to the office on Tuesday to find out that his keycard has suddenly and unexpectedly been deactivated. After the exit of O'Reilly and a host of other high-profile names over the past year, Hannity is easily Fox News's most recognizable personality, and losing him right now would be a significant blow to a network that is suddenly floundering in the cable-news ratings war. Also, for the vast majority of Fox News viewers, a vapid right-wing-media personality's unapologetic refusal to operate within the confines of reality is still a feature, not a bug, as a certain recent election result demonstrates.

Even so, the number of the network's personalities who have landed in legitimate hot water lately for stunts that would have flown under the radar a year ago is perhaps an encouraging sign that consumers are getting wise to the consequences of allowing such inane fuckery into mainstream public discourse. Hannity has always resisted being labeled as a "journalist," but seeing his dogged pursuit of a widely debunked conspiracy theory go unchecked by higher-ups for so long raises legitimate questions about whether there are any editorial standards at Fox News. It's legitimately embarrassing for a network that used to seem cheerfully immune from public shaming, and if stuff like this keeps happening, it won't be long before they have to decide if his tired shtick is really worth the trouble.

Efforts to boycott Hannity's show and strip him of his sponsors aren't an attack on "free speech." Hannity remains as able as ever to say what he pleases. But there are consequences for repeatedly insulting your audience's intelligence by peddling outrageous falsehoods, and right now the free market is helping Sean Hannity learn that lesson the hard way.

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