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Parkland student David Hogg rejects Fox News host's apology

A student survivor of a Florida high school shooting has rejected a Fox News host’s apology after she mocked his university applications.

Seven companies have said they are pulling ads from Laura Ingraham’s programme after 17-year-old David Hogg tweeted a call for a boycott.

On Wednesday, she accused the activist of whining after he said four colleges had rejected his applications.

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He has been a target of online abuse since last month’s attack in Parkland.

David tweeted on Thursday night: “I will only accept your apology only if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I in this fight.

“It’s time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children.”

The teenage activist, who now has more than 600,000 Twitter followers, told CNN: “She’s only apologising after a third of her advertisers pulled out.

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“I think it’s great that corporate America is standing with me and the rest of my friends.”

He also rejected her invitation to appear on her show and discuss his gun control campaign.

“I think it’s really disgusting, the fact that she basically tried promoting her show after apologising to me,” he told CNN.

TripAdvisor, Expedia, Hulu, Johnson & Johnson, Wayfair, Nestlé and Nutrish announced they would withdraw commercials from the presenter’s show, The Ingraham Angle.

Republican campaign strategist Steve Schmidt praised the teenager.

“Maybe that’s what happens after you’ve been down range of an AR-15 that kills your classmates and comes close to killing you,” Mr Schmidt told MSNBC, referring to the type of semi-automatic rifle used in the 14 February attack that claimed 17 lives.

“You lose all fear. Because this kid’s not scared. He’s not scared of the NRA. He’s not intimidated and scared by Laura Ingraham.”

On Wednesday, Ms Ingraham posted on Twitter: “David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it.”

David had mentioned to celebrity gossip website TMZ a day earlier that he had been turned away from four colleges in the University of California system.

On Thursday, the Fox presenter struck a conciliatory tone, praising David’s grades.

“On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologise for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland,” she said.

But a TripAdvisor spokesperson said Ms Ingraham’s original comments “cross the line of decency”.

Wayfair said “the decision of an adult to personally criticise a high school student who has lost his classmates in an unspeakable tragedy is not consistent with our values”.

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This story is from The BBC News. To read the full story, please go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-43597905.

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