Sleep Number one of advertisers caught in Laura Ingraham controversy

Sleep Number is one of a number of companies pressured to drop "Ingraham Angle" from its ad buys after host Laura Ingraham on Wednesday taunted Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg over his college rejections.

By midday Thursday, after some advertisers said they were pulling their ads from her Fox News show, Ingraham apologized.

Rachael Ray-backed pet food company Nutrish tweeted Thursday morning it was in the process of pulling ads. Wayfair and TripAdvisor both tweeted Ingraham's actions were against their corporate values.

Ads for Sleep Number, like a number of companies, ended up on "Ingraham Angle" not because of a specific request but as part of a broader ad buy across cable networks.

"As we plan our ad buys, we don't take a stance on content or views with programs we advertise on, which is common practice," the Minneapolis-based Sleep Number said in a statement. "With that said, we regularly review our advertising strategy to decide appropriate placement. At this time, this program is not part of our planned media schedule."

Hogg has been one of the most vocal survivors of the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and spoke at the March for Our Lives rally against gun violence in Washington. Since the shooting, the teen has frequently appeared on television and rallied his growing number of Twitter followers to become civically engaged if they are frustrated with the status quo.

Hogg had said as part of an interview that he had been rejected by several schools in California. Ingraham's original tweet retweeted a conservative news site and said Hogg "whines" about the college rejections.

On Thursday afternoon after the advertisers' comments, she tweeted: "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." She also tried to curtail the damage by noting Hogg had appeared on her show after the shooting.

Many people came to Hogg's defense after the original tweet. He initially remained silent and then later tweeted a list of advertisers on Ingraham's show. Pick a number at random, Hogg suggested, and contact the company next to it.

Before long, the tweet was flooded with replies from Hogg's supporters, some of whom pasted images of their messages to the companies in question, as well as those who accused Hogg of "bullying" Ingraham.

Nutrish, TripAdvisor and Wayfair had responded to Hogg's boycott call by late Thursday morning.

"We are in the process of removing our ads from Laura Ingraham's program," Nutrish tweeted Thursday morning.

TripAdvisor pointed to one of its company values — "We are better together" — in its decision to stop advertising with Ingraham's show.

"We do not … condone the inappropriate comments made by this broadcaster," TripAdvisor said in a statement. "In our view, these statements focused on a high school student, cross the line of decency."

Online home goods retailer Wayfair told the Hill that Ingraham's personal criticism of Hogg was "not consistent with our values."

It was unclear if any of the brands would change their minds following Ingraham's apology Thursday afternoon.

Hogg was not immediately available for comment Thursday. Despite the backlash, Ingraham's original tweet about Hogg's college rejections has remained online.

In an interview with TMZ on Tuesday, Hogg had spoken about receiving rejection letters from California colleges and in doing so sparked derision from conservatives, including Ingraham.

Hogg, who has a 4.2 GPA and a SAT score of 1270, was accepted to Florida Atlantic University, California Polytechnic State University and California State University San Marcos, TMZ reported.

During the TMZ interview, he expressed disappointment about the rejections but said it has been difficult to focus on college lately.

"We're changing the world," he said.

Star Tribune staff writer Patrick Kennedy and Washington Post writers Amy B Wang and Allyson Chiu contributed to this report.