An off-the-record interview with a well-known cable news host was cited as a reason the lawyers for George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain who shot and killed Trayvon Martin, dropped their client, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The interview was with Fox News host Sean Hannity. Zimmerman’s attorneys, Craig Sonner and Hal Uhrig, said they lost touch with Zimmerman after Sunday night, and that Zimmerman had decided to conduct publicity matters by himself, including the Sean Hannity conversation, the story says. Hannity declined to share the conversation with them, the piece adds.

Hannity has been sympathetic to Zimmerman, speculating that the shooting could have been "a horrible accident," the story notes.