Before we get to discussing what could potentially be your new favorite dating app I just want to state something for the record: it has been 2,428 days since Sean Hannity said on air that he would get waterboarded, and to this day he STILL HAS NOT been waterboarded. Now, while that stat might seem like it’s completely out of the blue I threw it in there because the potential ‘Tinder for right-wing Conservatives’ is potentially launching under the auspices of Sean Hannity himself.
Back in 2006 Sean Hannity owned ‘Hannidate’, an online dating service for right-wing Conservatives that paired likeminded individuals together, just like every other dating service on the planet. Well, a lot’s happened since then and Hannidate had fallen by the wayside…until now. In a recent interview published in the International Business Times ol’ Hannity himself opened up about the possibility of relaunching Hannidate as a ‘Tinder for right-wing Conservatives’:
What Hannity lacks in radical cred, he makes up for in personal branding. Take his “Hannitization” live radio tours, his website’s catalogue of his various neckties — “HanniTies” — or his dating website for right-wingers: the defunct “Hannidate.”
“Many people got married,” he said confidently of the site. “I don’t know the whole number, but a lot. It went for a while, but I had to stop it because it became a legal issue.” What kind of legal issue? He sighed. “This person marries this person, now the lawyers are worried about what happens if that marriage doesn’t work out. ‘They met on your website, so you’re responsible.’ And I’m like, this is ridiculous. It bothered me.”“Hannidate: The place where people of like conservative minds can come together to meet,” the site’s banner read back in 2006. “It’s fun, interactive, safe and anonymous — until you decide to take it further,” read the description.
Does he have any plans to bring back “Hannidate” in the era of Tinder? “I actually love the idea,” he said.
So while nothing’s set in concrete it does seem like the always entrepreneurial and industrious Sean Hannity might be posed to relaunch Hannidate as a Tinder clone for his audience.
The entire interview with the IBTimes is rather fascinating, and you can read it in full by following that link. There was however one disturbing quote, one about how Sean Hannity would never call himself a journalist…which means he doesn’t really care all that much about sticking the journalistic code of ethics:
“I am a conservative, but I consider myself a talk show host. If you ask me, am I a journalist? No.”
To be honest I’m actually not even surprised, and I don’t mean that as a slight towards Hannity at all. He’s a business man, an entrepreneur who’s spent his entire career building up his personal brand, not working under the guidelines of a journalist.
He’s been enviably successful at cultivating a devout following of rabid fans and I respect the shit out of that, and that’s something that most journalists (save for a few) would never be able to accomplish. Anyways, to read the interview in full you can follow those links above! Just know that the IBTimes interview isn’t exactly favorable towards Hannity, it’s taken a pretty severe slant against the FOX News TV host.