The New York Times responded Tuesday to a demand from Fox News host Sean Hannity to retract claims made against him in their article about the coronavirus and apologize.

"The columns are accurate, do not reasonably imply what you and Mr. Hannity allege they do, and constitute protected opinion," wrote David E. McCraw, the attorney representing the New York Times.

"In response to your request for an apology and retraction, our answer is 'no,' " he concluded.

Hannity's lawyers threatened to sue the Times over an article published on April 18 that documented the death of Joe Joyce from the coronavirus.

The family of Joyce say that he was warned not to go on a cruise during the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, but that he ignored the warnings because of the news broadcasts on Fox News downplaying the threat.

One of those cited was a segment by Hannity.

On Monday, Hannity sent a demand from his lawyers that they apologize and retract the story because his report was chronologically a week after Joyce decided to go on the cruise.

"We demand that you promptly remove the foregoing false and defamatory statements from the Stories and any subsequent republications in print or any other medium, and publish a full, fair and conspicuous retraction, correction and apology as to each of the false and defamatory statements identified above," read the letter from Hannity.

In 2017, Hannity threatened to sue former President Barack Obama with the "biggest lawsuit" possible over reports that he had been incidentally surveilled as part of the investigation into Russian election interference.

Here's Hannity on the New York Times feud: