It isn’t just Fox News hosts who are intent on harassing the student survivors of the Parkland shooting — that impulse has spread to other Sinclair Broadcast Group affiliates as well, many of whom take umbrage to the students’ suggestion that gun control might be beneficial for American schools.
Jamie Allman, the host of a nightly news show on ABC St. Louis-affiliate KDNL (which is owned by Sinclair), has been rather vocal about his distaste for one of the more outspoken Parkland students, David Hogg.
Specifically, Allman tweeted that he was “getting ready to ram a hot poker up David Hogg’s ass” thanks to the student’s comments on gun control.
Not surprisingly, the comment drew criticism from many for its vulgar content and sexually explicit overtones (not to mention the fact that it is, yet again, maligning the traumatized student survivors of a school shooting).
Following a barrage of critical observations, many advertisers consequently pulled their advertisements from Allman’s show. In the wake of this mass exodus, Allman resigned from his show this week.
“We have accepted Mr. Allman’s resignation, and his show has been canceled,” Ronn Torossian, the CEO of Sinclair’s PR firm 5W, said in a statement to Washington Post.
NEW: Sinclair commentator resigns after threatening to sexually assault Parkland survivor David Hogg https://t.co/q7f73HJbXR
— eli m. rosenberg (@emrosenberg) April 9, 2018
The swift retribution is similar to what Fox host Laura Ingraham experienced when she mocked David Hogg for being rejected from a handful of colleges. When advertisers began to pull out en masse, Ingraham hastily made a half-hearted apology, which almost everyone agreed was too little, too late.
Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA —incl. @DavidHogg111. On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland. For the record, I believe my show was the first to feature David…(1/2)
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 29, 2018
Sinclair has come under scrutiny in the past due to its staunch conservative leanings — specifically, when the media company recently enlisted their hosts to read an alarmingly scripted warning about “fake news.”
Perhaps this reminder bears repeating: when you feel compelled to bully teenage school shooting victims, perhaps you’re on the wrong side of history.