ST. LOUIS — A conservative commentator who sent a tweet saying he would use “a hot poker” to sexually assault an outspoken 17-year-old survivor of the Florida high school shooting has resigned from a St. Louis TV station and been taken off the radio after several advertisers withdrew from his shows.
KDNL-TV accepted Jamie Allman’s resignation and cancelled “The Allman Report,” according to a brief statement from Ronn Torossian, a spokesman for the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which operates the TV station. Before the show’s launch in January 2015, KDNL-TV touted it as a nontraditional newscast with a conservative spin.
Allman’s radio show on KFTK-FM has been taken off the air while the company “looks into the matter,” said Esther-Mireya Tejeda, a spokeswoman for Entercom, which began operating the station last month.
Allman hasn’t responded to messages from the Associated Press seeking comment.
Several businesses pulled advertising from Allman’s shows after he sent the March 26 tweet targeting David Hogg, who has strongly advocated for stricter gun control since 17 people were killed in the Feb. 14 mass shooting at his school in Parkland, Florida.
Allman’s Twitter account was “locked” shortly after he sent the tweet, restricting access to his account, but a screenshot of it has been widely circulated on social media.
Hogg’s willingness to take on the gun-control cause has made him a target for some conservatives. Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham took a week’s leave after apologizing via social media for her tweet that Hogg had “whined” about not getting in to some colleges.
Ingraham hasn’t discussed that episode specifically but promised upcoming stories about conservatives who she says are fighting attempts to silence them. Hogg, meanwhile, said it’s “time to love thy neighbour, not mudsling at children.”