Hannity, Sean

Sean Hannity, (born December 30, 1961, New York City, New York, U.S.), American television and radio personality, author, and conservative political commentator. Hannity was best known for his role as cohost of the Fox News Channel’s liberal-conservative debate show Hannity & Colmes (1996–2009). He also hosted the Fox News shows Hannity’s America (2007–09) and Hannity (2009– ).

Hannity graduated from high school in Uniondale, New York, and attended both New York University and Adelphi University but left school without graduating in order to pursue a career in broadcasting. He began hosting his first talk show in 1989 on KCSB FM, a college radio station in Santa Barbara, California. After less than a year on the air, however, he was dismissed for making controversial remarks about homosexuals. Hannity took advantage of the circumstances of his termination to gain employment at the politically conservative AM stations WVNN in Athens, Alabama, and later WGST in Atlanta.

In 1996 Fox News hired him as the conservative cohost of Hannity & Colmes, which set him beside the more-liberal Alan Colmes. Relocating to New York City, Hannity began working for New York’s talk-radio station WABC as well, as host of The Sean Hannity Show (1998– ), which was eventually syndicated on more than 500 stations in the United States. He also hosted the Fox News Channel show Hannity’s America, a weekly conservative current-affairs program. Following the end of Hannity & Colmes in 2009, Hannity assumed the time slot once occupied by the cohosted show. During the presidential election of 2016, Hannity was an outspoken supporter of the Republican nominee Donald J. Trump and an ardent critic of Trump’s Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. Following Trump’s election as president in November, Hannity became known as Trump’s most reliable defender among political commentators on television. Notably, after Trump was defeated by Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election, Hannity challenged the results, citing unproven allegations of voter fraud.

Hannity wrote the best-selling books Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Liberty over Liberalism (2002), Deliver Us from Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism (2004), Conservative Victory: Defeating Obama’s Radical Agenda (2010), and Live Free or Die: America (and the World) on the Brink (2020).