Fox News host Sean Hannity told his audience on June 24, 2026, that there was a medical explanation for the puffy face and raspy voice viewers had been noticing on air that month: a nerve injury he picked up while training and the steroid prescribed to treat it.
In a post on X, Hannity, 64, one of Fox News’ longest-serving hosts, said a pinched nerve in his neck had grown painful enough that he needed prednisone. The corticosteroid brings down inflammation, but it also commonly causes fluid retention and puffiness in the face and throat. He did not say what kind of training it was. Hannity has said he trains four days a week in a blend of Krav Maga, jujitsu and kenpo.
“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.”
Online Chatter Prompted the Public Statement
What pushed the host to speak up was the spread of clips from his June 23 broadcast. An account called @BadFoxGraphics put January and June screenshots side by side and asked 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,” joined in as well, making Hannity’s visibly enlarged cheeks a punchline on the show. The chatter crossed partisan lines, pulling in political opponents and worried viewers alike.
Radio Remarks Came Ahead of the X Post
Before the X post, by his own account, the subject had come up more than once on “The Sean Hannity Show,” his weekday nationally syndicated radio program. On Monday, June 22, 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.
The version he gave listeners that day conflicts with the one he would publish two days later. On the radio, he said a bad sinus infection had led to the laryngitis, and that he had been reluctant to start prednisone at all, calling it “this crappy medicine.” His X post put it the other way around, describing the drug as what “led to laryngitis and some puffiness, which is normal for this medication.”
He did start the course of treatment in the end. Much of the inflammation cleared, but the visible side effects arrived with it — and they were plain to viewers by the time his June 23 show aired.
A Steroid With Cosmetic Side Effects
Doctors reach for prednisone often to control inflammation, though its cosmetic side effects are well documented, among them fluid retention that can leave noticeable swelling in the face and neck. Hannity acknowledged both, pinning his raspier voice and significantly puffier appearance on the drug rather than on any underlying condition.
Recovery was going well, he told his audience, and he had not stopped training. Then came a dry aside: a few weeks on the medication had somehow drawn more attention than 30 years of ratings success.
He closed by thanking well-wishers “including from members of the left-wing media,” then added: “Sorry to disappoint them, but a pinched nerve, a raspy voice, and a puffy face aren’t taking me out anytime soon.”
The Interview That Drew Attention
Most of the scrutiny traced back to a single episode, in which Hannity interviewed Stephen Miller, a senior Trump adviser and the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, amid rising midterm tensions. Earlier that Tuesday, June 23, candidates endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani had swept New York’s Democratic House primaries, and Miller used the airtime for a blistering attack on the party, asserting that a vote for any Democrat empowered a party intent on dismantling the country’s security and way of life.
For his part, Hannity wondered aloud how two ideological camps so far apart could ever be reconciled.
A staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, Hannity hosts a prime-time Fox News program as well as a podcast that regularly books administration allies. Few faces at the network are better known, and few have been there longer — which is why speculation about his health moved so fast, well beyond his usual audience, before he finally addressed it directly.
Where Hannity Stands Now
As of Wednesday, September 2, the host has not returned to the subject of his health on air or online, and neither he nor Fox News has said anything further about it. His 9 p.m. slot has not changed, and neither has the show’s pull: “Hannity” averaged 2.55 million viewers in July, fourth in the category, in a month Fox News led it.
The combative interviews have continued. Democratic socialist congressional candidate Chris Rabb, a Pennsylvania state representative running in the state’s 3rd District, began his August 5 appearance by thanking the host as “Scott.” “Uh, my name is not Scott. My name is Sean, but that’s okay,” Hannity replied. Then, on August 13, he cut off former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio mid-answer as de Blasio defended Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson, closing the segment with, “Alright, I gotta go” — a moment critics seized on online.
A different sort of scrutiny has followed his war coverage. Hannity interviewed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 28, then 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 came back to the topic on August 19. “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?”
