Sean Hannity Reveals His Father Beat Him

Fox News host Sean Hannity has stated that his father used to hit him with a belt as he lashed out at The View panelist Sunny Hostin and mockingly called her a "snowflake."

During an appearance on her ABC daytime show on Thursday, Hostin called House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) a "political terrorist" as she alleged that he once screamed at and "terrorized" her when she testified at Congress.

Hostin, who once served as a federal prosecutor and a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, made the claim while discussing potential GOP nominees to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as House speaker.

"Aww, the poor little snowflakes got offended that somebody actually, you know, raised their voice slightly," Hannity said on Thursday after showing a clip of Hostin's comments.

"By the way, when my father would hit me with a belt, I didn't actually raise my voice," Hannity went on. "How did this country... You know, we used to be the land of the free, home of the brave. What happened? When did we become the land of the snowflake?"

Hannity's comments were met with laughs from the audience that was present at the studio.

The media personality's comments come almost a decade after he candidly spoke in favor of corporal punishment before removing his own belt and whipping his desk.

Back in 2014, Hannity spoke with guests on his Fox News show about football player Adrian Peterson, who had been indicted on charges of reckless or negligent injury to a child for beating his son, then aged 4, with a switch, or tree branch. The athlete subsequently pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge of recklessly assaulting his son.

"I got hit with a strap. Bam, bam, bam—and I've never been to a shrink—by my father," Hannity told his guests, while conceding that Peterson "went too far" with his own son. "I would tell you that I deserved it."

"I had welts when my father hit me in the legs with his belt," Hannity told his guests as they detailed the allegations leveled against Peterson.

"My father punched me in the face when I talked back to him once, and I deserved it," Hannity later said in the discussion while defending his dad's alleged actions.

"All the people that have used switches over the years and used belts, what are we gonna arrest them all?" Hannity asked. "Are we gonna arrest everybody that's ever hit their kid?"

Hannity then removed his own belt and proceeded to whip his desk. "I got it like this," the host said. "And I deserved it. I was a troubled kid."

"So a switch is always wrong in your view?" Hannity asked his guests, none of whom appeared to support corporal punishment. "You should arrest every parent that uses a switch? So my father should have been arrested based on today's standards? That's nuts."

While Hannity spoke in support of punishing one's children in such a manner, he revealed in the 2014 debate that he has not continued the cycle. "I don't hit my kids," he said. "But I don't have to. I take their iPhone away—it works perfectly."