Roy Moore

Alabama judge and Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore may be accused of sexually harassing a number of women when they were in their early teens, but until now, one Moore-lover has remained faithful to him: Sean Hannity has stood by his man. On his nightly Fox News show, Hannity has provided a platform for Moore to answer the accusations, as well as insisting that we “cannot rush to judgment” because Sean Hannity has seen so many good men “destroyed by the media.”

Indeed, Hannity is so loyal to Moore that some of the host’s advertisers think he’s just a little too close to justifying the behavior of a man who, at the very least, is fixated on very young women. Keurig — which sells coffeemakers as well as those incredibly irritating little plastic coffee things that make dishwater-weak cups of coffee — is among those who’ve yanked their ads on Hannity. (Keurig later apologized for “taking sides.”) In response, Hannity’s viewers — many of whom are faithful to Hannity because he’s faithful to Moore (it’s a co-dependency thing) — have taken to protesting Keurig’s ad-yank. Hannity fans have been destroying Keurig coffeemakers and then posting the destruction on social media.

But on Tuesday night, Hannity appeared ready to break up with Roy Moore. He gave Moore 24 hours to “immediately come up with a satisfactory explanation for your inconsistencies. … If you can’t do this, then Judge Moore needs to get out of the race.” Given that Hannity’s relationship commitments are usually ruled by nothing more principled than sensing which way the wind is blowing, things don’t look good for Moore. But they look even worse for Hannity, who keeps bleeding advertisers the longer he maintains this long-distance relationship with Roy Moore. Thus his suddenly bold move to break up with Moore, no matter how hurt the little Southern man may be by the news. When push comes to shove, Hannity would rather have advertisers than stick with his announced loyalties.

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As of Wednesday morning, we’re about halfway through the 24-hour deadline Hannity has given Moore to “explain his inconsistencies.” If Moore doesn’t comply with Hannity’s wishes, I wonder if this will signal a new development: Will Hannity will start treating Moore’s accusers with the same degree of respect he’s shown Moore?

Hannity airs weeknights at 9 p.m. on Fox News.

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