A screengrab making rounds on social media allegedly claims Fox News television host Sean Hannity made a statement about Liberals and spiders during his show. But he never said such a phrase, the image was created as a joke.
The image, which shows Hannity wearing a blue tie, includes a closed caption text that reads: “Liberals want spiders to be even sexier”.
A Facebook post from July 30, 2021 with the image can be seen here. Other recent posts can be seen here, here.
Some users question its authenticity, for example: “I really don’t want to doubt this, but I can’t find a clip of him saying that anywhere” and “He never said that, ive been looking for a few hours now trying to find where he said that and it seems like no one else can find it either, so that means it was faked”.
Others ask for the source, with comments such as: “Can- can I have the clip please?” and “Citation please?”
Reuters found no credible record of Hannity saying this. A Google search brought posts made since 2018 on blogs, social media and meme pages ( archive.ph/5KNm3, archive.ph/xaIJr, here).
The earliest iteration Reuters could identify is a tweet posted on Dec. 11, 2017 here writer and comedian Keaton Patti ( here ). “I thought the closed captioning was messed up, but nope, he actually said that.”, the tweet reads. Some memes also replicate this wording ( here, here).
Contacted by Reuters, Patti confirmed the image was made “as a joke.”
The same image of Hannity at his show, without the alleged subtitle, was used in articles published in 2016 ( archive.ph/6NsnK, archive.ph/xtrNN).
Reuters was not able to identify the show this screengrab was taken from.
Contacted by Reuters, FOX News confirmed Hannity never said this.
VERDICT
Satire. There’s no evidence Sean Hannity said: “Liberals want spiders to be even sexier”. The “screengrab” was created as a joke.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts here.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.