David Hogg

Submission 45,826

Part of a series on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting. [View Related Entries]

About

David Hogg is an American gun control activist and survivor of the Marjory Stone Douglas high school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Following the shooting, Hogg rose to promience as one of the most vocal proponents for new federal gun legislation in America, helping to found and organize the March for Our Lives and #NeverAgain campaign.

Online History

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting

On February 14th, 2018, Hogg survived the Marjory Douglas High School mass shooting that left 17 people dead and 15 injured. During the shooting, Hogg recorded himself and various students hiding from the shooter.

The following day, Hogg appeared on CNN to discuss his experience.^[1]

March For Our Lives

On March 24th, 2018, Hogg, his fellow Parkland shooting survivor and the Everytown for Gun Safety organization held the March for Our Lives. It is estimated that more than 800,000 people attended the march in Washington, D.C.^[2]

Hogg spoke at the March for Our Lives (shown below). During the speech, Hogg discussed the 2018 midterm elections and encouraging young people and first-time voters to participate in the election.

Criticism

Feud With Laura Ingraham

On March 28th, 2018, Fox News host Laura Ingraham tweeted a link to a Daily Wire about David Hogg being rejected by four colleges.^[9] She wrote, "David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA…totally predictable given acceptance rates.)" The post (shown below, left) received more than 7,600 retweets and 22,000 likes in 10 days.

That day, Hogg responded on Twitter^[10] by posting 12 companies that advertise on Ingraham's television series, The Ingraham Angle. He wrote, "Pick a number 1-12 contact the company next to that #" The tweet (shown below, center) received more than 55,000 retweets and 129,000 likes.

The following day, Ingraham apologized on Twitter.^[11] She wrote, "Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA --incl. @DavidHogg111. On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland. For the record, I believe my show was the first to feature David…" The post (shown below, right) received more than 2,400 retweets and 12,000 likes in one week.

Several advertisers dropped Ingraham in response to the tweet, including TripAdvisor, Wayfair, Hulu, Nutrish, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle, Atlantis Paradise Island, Stitch Fix and Expedia.^[12] Arby's however, didn't acknowledged Hogg's comment on the matter which lead him to tweet at various Arby's executives and press contacts with, "Where's the beef? @Arbys" (shown below).^[15]

Following the advertisers pulling their support from the show, Ingraham announced that she would be taking a week off as host. Many compared this tactic similar to that of Bill O'Reilly, who left his show for several weeks before being fired, following allegations of sexual harassment.^[13]

Several days later, Hogg responded to the apology on CNN by stating that he did not accept her apology (shown below) and that she was only apologizing because of the advertisers pulling their support.

Reputation

Conspiracy Theories

On February 19th, 2018, the Gateway Pundit YouTube channel uploaded footage of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student David Hogg stumbling over his words while being interviewed about the shooting, alleging that he couldn't "remember his lines" (shown below). Shortly after, the video reached the frontpage of the /r/The_Donald^[3] subreddit, where it gathered upwards of 5,900 points (84% upvoted) and 370 comments within 18 hours. Meanwhile, the alternative medicine and conspiracy theory site Natural News^[4] published an article titled "It's All Theater: Florida high school shooting survivor caught on video rehearsing scripted lines, coached by camera man."

On February 20th, The Disgruntled Millennial Facebook page posted an image featuring a screencapture of Hogg during an interview in California with CBS2 News in August 2017 above a screen-captured image of Hogg being interviewed by CNN in February 2018, with comments speculating that Hogg was a crisis actor. That day, Newsweek^[5] published an article about the conspiracy theories titled "Right-wing Conspiracy Theorists Blame Anti-gun Rallies and Teen Activism on George Soros." Also on February 20th, Donald Trump Jr. liked two conspiracy theory tweets about Hogg, which suggested he had been "coached" by his ex-FBI agent father. The tweets were subsequently removed from the site. That day, BuzzFeed^[14] published an article titled "Donald Trump Jr. Liked Tweets Promoting A Conspiracy Theory About A Florida Shooting Survivor."

On February 21st, 2018, the 2017 CBS2 News clip, in which Hogg is shown discussing a viral video showing an argument between a bodysurfer and a lifeguard, reached the #1 trending position on YouTube.

That day, the tech news site Motherboard^[6] published an article titled "The #1 Trending Video on YouTube Right Now Suggests That a Student From the Parkland Shooting Is a Crisis Actor."
Meanwhile, Casey Neistat tweeted a screenshot of the trending page to the @YouTube and @PhillyD Twitter feeds (shown below). That day, YouTube removed the video, leaving the notice "This video has been removed for violating YouTube's policy on harassment and bullying."

Alex Jones Challenges David Hogg to Debate

On February 21st, 2018, the Infowars YouTube channel had a video suggesting that David Hogg and other Parkland Shooting survivors were "crisis actors" removed from YouTube, constituting a strike against the InfoWars channel. YouTube's policy is that if an account has three strikes in three months, it is terminated.^[7] On February 27th, Hogg took to Twitter to attack Jones, calling him a "shit journalist" and brought up when Jones made similar "false-flag" claims about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting.

Hogg also implied Jones a "snake oil salesman" with a picture of Jones' before/after pics selling his enhancement supplements, "Super Male Vitality," saying it took 45 days to become Thicc (shown below).

In response, Jones invited Hogg to come on his show in a series of tweets to "clear things up" and "defend the first amendment," suggesting Hogg had CNN suspend the Infowars YouTube account in his name.^[8]

Jones also posted a video wherein he issued the challenge to Hogg (shown below).

In response, Hogg stated he would not speak to anyone who had disparaging remarks for victims of mass shootings.

Swatting

On June 5th, 2018, a SWAT team was sent to the address of Hogg's family after police received fictitious reports that an armed person had barricaded themselves within the home. The team subsequently entered and cleared the home. That day, Hogg was interviewed about the swatting by Time, during which he accused the swatter of attempting a distraction from important political issues (shown below).

That day, posts about the news reached the front page of the /r/news^[16] and /r/politics^[17] subreddits.

Daisy-chan

Daisy-chan is a fictional female version of David Hogg who is often depicted as a Trump supporter and gun enthusiast. In late August 2018, photoshops Hogg as a female second amendment supporter began appearing on 4chan's /pol/^[19]^[20]^[21] board (shown below).

On August 23rd, Redditor KaliforniaX submitted a collage of Daisy-chan images to /r/The_Donald,^[18] where it gathered upwards of 790 points (95% upvoted) and 75 comments within 24 hours (shown below).