Just after we moved back to New York from Las Vegas,I was employed at WEVD Talk Radio. One night in June, I was asleep when my wife woke me to tell me Sean Hannity was calling me. It was 11:30 at night,and I am told Sean was very apologetic to Barbara about the lateness of the hour, but he said it was a very important call.
Sean informed me that one of his operatives (yes,he said operatives,like he was running an OSS unit) informed him that I called him a racist. First though, a little antecedent action.
I was a guest on the Hannity and Colmes Show on Fox News, and during a break, I took the opportunity to show Sean a picture of my then months old daughter in a Santa hat, looking fabulous. He barely noticed, said something like "nice picture" or "cute kid" in an obligatory manner,and went back to his papers. He said later his producer was talking into his earpiece,and he couldn't pay attention to the photo. I thought it was odd that his producer was chatting into his ear,and yet I didn't hear one word out of Sean in response,and I was sitting two feet away from him.
So one night I am on the air, and I remember saying to my audience that only two people ever looked at my kid's Santa shot and didn't melt: one was Sean Hannity and the other was blind. His operative, Radio Agent 007, told him I said "one was Sean Hannity and the other was David Duke" . I told him I didn't say that,and frankly, didn't care. After a few moments of "did so/did not," Sean told me to bring a tape of the show over to his office and he would listen to it and make his own judgment. Yes, I know, he evidently expected me to dash over to his lair. I, too was stunned. No, I didn't bring him anything.
However, he didn't speak to me for years. I once saw him at a bar and said "Sean" so loudly that someone else named Sean turned around, but not Hannity. He looked around as if he couldn't tell that someone was yelling his name. I would IM him occasionally, and all I got was something on the order "you did it".
The point is that Sean has enormous rabbit ears when it comes to being accused of being a racist, or any other hint that he might be a bigot. For months after, I would hear tell he would mention how he gets really upset when he is accused of such a shortcoming.
You see, I didn't call him a racist, that word never left my mouth in any way. I do think he protests too much. If it doesn't apply to you,why are your boys all bunched up? My wife has called me an ape,but that doesn't mean I hang from a tree and screech, (anymore). I pay it no mind. Happy New Year.