Monday morning Sean Hannity, Fox News’ most-popular personality, tweeted that, despite what you may have heard, he was not going to campaign with President Donald Trump.

"In spite of reports, I will be doing a live show from Cape Girardeau and interviewing President Trump before the rally. To be clear, I will not be on stage campaigning with the President. I am covering final rally for my show. Something I have done in every election in the past."

Fast-forward to Monday night. And there, standing onstage with Trump in Cape Girardeau, was Hannity, campaigning with the president. Trump called him up during the rally (the interview took place beforehand), and of course, Hannity obeyed.

This isn't really surprising; if you've watched five minutes of Hannity’s Fox News show, you know that he is slavishly devoted to Trump. What is somewhat surprising, and despicable, is what Hannity said when he got to the stage.

"By the way," he said, pointing to the back of the hall where reporters were gathered, "all those people in the back are fake news."

Hannity's hypocrisy

"Fake," as in saying you're going to do one thing and then doing the opposite? Got it. Except when it suits him to pretend to be one, Hannity often claims he’s not a journalist. He proved it then. How do you think the Fox News reporters covering the rally felt?

Jeanine Pirro, host of "Justice with Judge Jeanine" on Fox News, also appeared onstage, exhorting the crowd to vote Republican.

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In fairness, Fox News dropped the slogan "fair and balanced" a while ago. Good thing.

Tuesday, Fox News issued the following statement:

Fox News does not condone any talent participating in campaign events. We have an extraordinary team of journalists helming our coverage tonight and we are extremely proud of their work. This was an unfortunate distraction and has been addressed.

Hannity, for his part, also issued a statement: "What I said in my tweet yesterday was 100% truthful. When the POTUS invited me on stage to give a few remarks last night, I was surprised, yet honored by the president’s request. This was NOT planned. To be clear, I was not referring to my journalist colleagues at Fox News in those remarks. They do amazing work day in and day out in a fair and balanced way and it is an honor to work with such great professionals."

That Hannity interview of Trump, by the way, was basically hero adoration. Hannity complained that the only problem was that Trump missed his opening monologue.

"No, I saw it on the plane," Trump said. "Actually, I saw it on the plane. I never miss your opening monologue. I would never do that."

With the unconditional love Hannity offers every night on his show — and Monday night in person — why would he?

Bill Goodykoontz is a film critic and media columnist at The Arizona Republic, where this column first appeared. You can follow him on Twitter: @goodyk.