Sean Hannity is not the biggest fan of awards shows.
“I’ll be honest, I can’t stand these Hollywood award shows. I hate them. They’re unwatchable to me,” the Fox News host tells The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s all self congratulatory ‘you’re great. I’m great. We’re all great together.’”
So it is a bit ironic that Hannity has become a perennial awards show host himself. For the second straight year, Hannity will host the Patriot Awards, Fox News’ own awards special, which honors everyday heroes (and a few famous people) for their achievements in life, rather than on the screen. This year’s installment, the seventh hosted by the channel, will take place Thursday Nov. 6 and will stream on Fox Nation.
The awards were previously hosted by Fox & Friends weekend host Pete Hegseth, who left the channel for another job.
“I think I read something about that, yeah,” Hannity says with a chuckle.
“I think what makes [The Patriot Awards] so beautiful, unique and special, is we honor those unsung heroes, and we give them a platform and the recognition that not only they deserve, but the people that also do what they do deserve,” Hannity says. “We set aside a night to honor them.”
The ticketed event will see thousands of Fox News fans crowd the arena to get close to their favorite TV talent and other guests, with live taping of shows like The Five and Fox & Friends, and meet and greets with talent.
“I meet people all the time, and there is a real bond and a passion for the network and what we do, and all the different personalities and to come together on a special night to do something so unique and so different from any other award show, I’m just honored to be a part of it,” he adds. “To be honest I was really honored when they asked me to host it, and then I guess I did okay, because they invited me back.”
Hannity recalls visiting Walter Reed Medical Center with former Fox News host Oliver North during the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, visiting troops suffering from injuries sustained in battle.
“They are the unsung heroes of our time, and there are so many of them. They’re in every small town, every big city. They’re all over the place, and we don’t know their stories,” Hannity says. “Nobody ever tells their stories, that’s what defines the Patriot Awards, so that the people that will go into a burning building and risk their life to save a young child, or, in some cases save an animal, save something. I mean, that is just love of country and love of your fellow man at the highest level to me.”
This year’s Patriot Awards will be held at the The Tilles Center for the Performing Arts in Brookville, New York, a stones throw from New York City on Long Island, Hannity’s former home (he moved to Florida last year).
Suffice it to say, the nearby mayor’s race in New York City was top of mind, with Zohran Mamdani’s stunning win set to reverberate across the country.
“I affectionately call Zohran Mamdani ‘Commie Marxist Mamdani’ but that’s just the humor side of what I do,” Hannity says, predicting that his election will lead to a deluge of New York residents fleeing for the suburbs, or other cities in Florida, Texas, or the Carolinas. “I think there’s going to be a Mamdani effect, where people just say they’ve had enough.”
But first, some awards need to be handed out.
Most of the honorees are regular people being honored for taking extraordinary acts of heroism. The awards include the Young Patriot Award, Courage Award, Benjamin Hall’s “Honor” Award, T2T Stephen Siller Award, Salute to Service Award, and Most Valuable Patriot Award.
Of course, the awards will also have some very recognizable honorees and guests, alongside the stable of Fox News talent. Country star Jason Aldean will perform, and he and his wife Brittany Aldean will present a brand new award from the channel: The Charlie Kirk Legacy Award. The first recipient will be Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk’s widow.
“I knew Charlie Well, and liked Charlie a lot, he was so gifted and talented,” Hannity says. “I would say his calling was probably pastoral, almost, he would go into these hostile environments, and say prove that I’m wrong, prove me wrong.”
Hannity cited videos that Charlie and Erika Kirk made together, in which they would discuss their marriage.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever watched any of those videos, and maybe you agree with their values, maybe you don’t, but they talk about how they would serve each other and ask each other, ‘how can I better serve you?’” Hannity says. “Most marriages are like ‘why isn’t my dinner ready?’”
And Tuesday Fox announced that First Lady Melania Trump would receive the Patriot of the Year Award (her husband President trump was last year’s recipient), for her work to protect children from the dangers of AI and securing the release of Ukrainian children seized by Russia during the war.
“I think that for any First Lady, it’s a very hard position,” Hannity says, adding that he knows her well. “She’s got this quiet dignity about her, and is an absolutely brilliant human being.”
“But I think she’s been remarkable in her work with with children in particular, which I know is a passion of hers and close to her heart,” he adds. “She’s more quiet, she’s more private, the idea that she was back-channeling Vladimir Putin and working for the release of these kids is really remarkable, and she did so successfully. What a great story to tell. Nobody knew that was happening, and it was a pretty cool story.”
