A nerve injury suffered during training — likely his martial arts practice — and the steroid medication used to treat it were behind the facial swelling and raspy voice that Fox News host Sean Hannity’s viewers had noticed on air that month, the host said on Wednesday, June 24, 2026.
Hannity, 64, one of Fox News’ longest-serving hosts, explained in a post on X that a pinched nerve in his neck had become painful enough to require prednisone, a corticosteroid that reduces inflammation but commonly causes fluid retention and puffiness in the face and throat.
“Thanks to everyone who has checked in,” Hannity wrote on X. “I’ve already addressed this several times on my radio show, but while training, I developed a painful pinched nerve in my neck.”
Social Media Commentary Spurred Public Statement
Speculation about the host’s health escalated after clips from his June 23, 2026 broadcast circulated widely online. An account called @BadFoxGraphics posted January and June screenshots side by side, asking whether Hannity was all right. Left-wing commentator Kyle Kulinski posted on X, writing, “Why does Sean Hannity look like he’s drunk, high on Percocet and 60 lbs heavier?”
Comedian Josh Johnson, a host on “The Daily Show,” also weighed in, joking during his June 23, 2026, monologue about Hannity’s visibly enlarged cheeks. The commentary spanned partisan lines, drawing responses from political opponents and concerned viewers alike.
Radio Broadcast Addressed Concerns Before X Post
By his own account, Hannity had already discussed the matter multiple times on “The Sean Hannity Show,” his weekday nationally syndicated radio program, before posting to X. On Monday, June 22, 2026, he asked frequent co-host Lynda McLaughlin whether his voice sounded improved. “I am, and I think America is excited that you’re not dying of a stroke,” she replied, drawing laughter.
During that same broadcast, Hannity gave a slightly different account of the sequence than the one he would post two days later. A bad sinus infection had led to the laryngitis, he told listeners, and he had been reluctant to start prednisone at all, describing it as “this crappy medicine.” In his X post he wrote instead that the drug itself was what “led to laryngitis and some puffiness, which is normal for this medication.”
He eventually began the course of treatment, which resolved much of the inflammation but introduced the visible side effects that caught viewers’ attention by the time his June 23 show aired.
Steroid Produces Cosmetic Side Effects
Prednisone is a corticosteroid widely used to control inflammation, but it carries well-documented cosmetic side effects, including fluid retention that can cause noticeable swelling in the face and neck. Hannity acknowledged both, attributing his raspier voice and significantly puffier appearance directly to the drug rather than to any underlying condition.
He told his audience he was recovering well and had not stopped training, then capped the statement with a dry aside: that a few weeks on the medication had somehow attracted more attention than 30 years of ratings success.
Hannity also addressed critics who had expressed something more pointed than concern, writing that a pinched nerve, a raspy voice, and a puffy face were not, in his words, going to take him out anytime soon — including for those in what he called “the left-wing media” who had weighed in.
The Interview That Drew Attention
The episode that drew the most attention featured Hannity interviewing Stephen Miller, senior Trump adviser and White House Deputy Chief of Staff, amid rising midterm tensions. Candidates endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani had swept New York’s Democratic House primaries the day before, on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, and Miller used the platform to attack the party sharply, asserting that a vote for any Democrat empowered a party intent on dismantling the country’s security and way of life.
Hannity himself questioned how two ideological camps so far apart could ever be reconciled.
Hannity is a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump and hosts both a prime-time Fox News program and a podcast that frequently features administration allies. He is among the network’s most recognizable and longest-tenured on-air personalities, and the combination of his prominence and his visibly changed appearance ensured the speculation about his health traveled quickly — well beyond his usual audience, before he finally addressed it directly.
Where Hannity Stands Now
In the two months since, Hannity has not raised his health again on air or online, and the episode has passed without further comment from him or from Fox News. He has remained in his 9 p.m. slot throughout, and the program has held its audience: “Hannity” averaged 2.55 million viewers in July 2026, fourth among cable news programs, in a month Fox News led the category.
The combative interviews have continued. On August 5, 2026, Democratic socialist congressional candidate Chris Rabb, a Pennsylvania state representative running in the state’s 3rd District, opened his appearance by thanking the host as “Scott.” “My name is not Scott. My name is Sean, but that’s okay,” Hannity replied. On August 13, 2026, he cut off former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio mid-answer as de Blasio defended Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson, ending the segment with, “Alright, I gotta go” — a moment critics seized on online.
His war coverage has drawn scrutiny of a different kind. After interviewing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 28, 2026, Hannity went roughly three weeks without an extended segment on the Iran war, a stretch in which the liberal watchdog group Media Matters counted 46 minutes of WNBA coverage across 11 segments on his program. He returned to the subject on August 19, 2026. “By the way, it never gets credit — Iran will never have a nuclear weapon thanks to Donald Trump,” he said. “Does anyone ever give him credit for that?”
