Sinclair commentator resigns after threatening to sexually assault Parkland survivor David Hogg — who, needless to say, is not only a survivor of a mass shooting, but also a child. https://t.co/b5qHDkGELw
— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) April 10, 2018
As with all junkies, a taste of the good stuff, the pure uncut hatred, leaves the consumers of right-wing media hatefests hungry for more and uglier “bumps” from their local pusher. But in order to stay nominally “legit”, the distributors at the top of the pyramid need to avoid public catastrophes that might expose their various enterprises to undue public scrutiny. Sinclair Media, having recently overstepped badly with a nationwide attempt to shut down honest journalism, did *not* need one of its street-level dealers to lose his shit in public, but…
A conservative commentator at a Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned television station in St. Louis has resigned after a statement he made threatening to sexually assault David Hogg drew harsh criticism and sparked the beginnings of an advertiser boycott.
Jamie Allman, who hosts a nightly news show on KDNL, a Sinclair-owned ABC affiliate in St. Louis, as well as a morning FM radio show, wrote on Twitter that he was “hanging out getting ready,” to sexually assault David Hogg with “a hot poker.”
“Busy working. Preparing,” read the March 26 tweet, which is too vulgar to print here in full, but was published as a screen shot by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, as the remark began to draw more scrutiny in recent days.
Advertisers, including Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, St. Louis health center Palm Health, and local real estate office The Gellman Team, announced they would stop advertising on Allman’s shows, spurred on by activists who took to social media to highlight the commentator’s remarks, as well as Democratic state lawmaker Stacey Newman and others…
It represented the potential of yet another public relations crisis for Sinclair, which has come under harsh criticism in recent weeks after a video of dozens of its anchors reading the same mandated script about “fake stories” went viral.
Sinclair, the Maryland-based media company, is the largest owner of local television stations in the country, with 173 stations in 81 broadcast markets. It has come under intense scrutiny, as it awaits federal approval for a takeover of another media company, for injecting what many feel is a conservative bias into local news coverage. Its proposed buyout of Tribune Media, for which it needs approval from the FCC and the Department of Justice, would bring its coverage into the homes of as many as 70 percent of American households…
Jamie Allman, gettin’ high on his own(ers’) supply. Even Breitbart’s gonna have trouble finding a warm place for this dude to seek refuge.
Mary G
I love how delicately and squeamishly some of these outfits talk about this. The exact tweet read “When we kick their ass they all like to claim we’re drunk. I’ve been hanging out getting ready to ram a hot poker up David Hogg’s ass tomorrow. Busy working. Preparing.”
Yeah, sounds like a lot of liquor was involved. What a waste of a human he is. He’d fit right in with the tiki torch wavers at Charlottesville. Sinclair isn’t getting off on the right foot introducing itself to the country it wants to be the sole news source for. Everybody needs to bug Congress not to let them go through with the Tribune merger.
hellslittlestangel
Another victim, like Kevin Williamson, of left-wing censorship of controversial opinions.
EricNNY
Hate wins sgain.
He’ll land fine.
Hell is too good for these people.
Major Major Major Major
What vile people.
How about something pretty instead? A few pictures around town from the hot springs we’re staying in tonight, Arima Onsen, north of Kobe.
@hellslittlestangel: I’m sure Bill Maher will be right on it.
Mary G
@Major Major Major Major: Those are very pretty and soothing and so a good place for me to leave the internet and try to sleep. Looks like you are having a wonderful trip! How was the Kobe beef?
Anne Laurie
@Mary G: “But doesn’t everyone, when they get drunk, fantasize about torturing teenage boys in an overtly sexual way? Just Jamie, then?… “
Major Major Major Major
@Mary G: really good!
Amir Khalid
@Major Major Major Major:
Lovely place, lovely pictures. Will you be submitting more pictures to Alain for On The Road?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Major Major Major Major: Pretty pics, Madame liked the pics you took of her mom’s hometown.
Major Major Major Major
@Amir Khalid: eventually :)
@BillinGlendaleCA: cool. I took many more, but those were the ones that featured flowers and it was a gardening thread.
r€nato
Will Bill Maher shed a tear again this Friday for the Constitutional rights of Jamie Allman to have corporate ad money paying for his TV megaphone, the way he did last Friday with regards to Laura Ingraham? Will he once again denounce the “fascists” whom Maher believes are wiping their asses with the First Amendment by promoting boycotts of sponsors of this trash?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Major Major Major Major: She’s always wanted to visit Nara, her mom told her how beautiful it was. Her mom wasn’t Japanese, she was Korean but born and raised in Nara(had to do with the unpleasantness in the early 20th century).
sukabi
@r€nato: thought Maher was a believer in capitalism and the free market…who knew that people exercising their rights to NOT purchase products / services that don’t align with their values would offend him so much….?
Amir Khalid
@r€nato:
If Maher wants to call someone a fascist, he should pick Jamie Allman. It is Allman’s tweet that expresses a fascist viewpoint, by advocating the brutal suppression of dissent.
Balconesfault
How soon before Allman gets a position in the White House?
hervevillechaizelounge
It’s mandatory for republicans, apparently, but only after they finish fantasizing about hanging women who’ve had abortions.
Is it just me, or is all of this depressingly predictable? Now the fantasy poker-wielder will feign outrage, shriek about intolerant liberals and land a cushy gig at a right-wing think-tank (hello oxymoron). The NYT will crap out some both-siderist balderdash comparing threats of raping a minor to McCarthyism—rinse and repeat.
The right’s addiction to falsehood-based outrage has been going on for years; they’ve built up quite a tolerance. And now they know the inmates are running the asylum I expect them to be emboldened, both with their threats and their calls for sedition.
There is only one way this can end—RWNJ won’t act responsibly unless they can find a way to make a buck off it, and I don’t see that happening.
Debbie(aussie)
@Major Major Major Major:
Beautiful pictures. Looks like a very pleasant peaceful place. Thank you for sharing.
Mike J
@Major Major Major Major: Massage a cow for me.
Amir Khalid
I was just looking over The Washington Post a moment ago. I learned that Trump Org lawyers tried to extort from the President of Panama into intervening in judicial process in Trump Org’s favour. They said if he didn’t, Trump would get angry. This abuse of power by itself surely justifies removing Trump from office.
Also, Fleetwood Mac have sacked Lindsey Buckingham again, for disagreement over an upcoming tour. But The WaPo is confident he’ll be rehired for the next tour.
Major Major Major Major
@Mike J: I ate one, will that do?
mainmata
@Mary G: Unfortunately, it looks to be in the hands of the DOJ and the FCC, both of which are quite rightwing nowadays.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@EricNNY:
I somehow doubt that. But gloomers gotta gloom
Major Major Major Major
@Amir Khalid:
The violence was fine but we can’t have that.
Robert Sneddon
@Major Major Major Major: If you’re in Kobe you should visit the Nunobiki hilltop herbal gardens behind the shinkansen station. There’s a cable-car to the top where an old Dutch-based perfumery grew assorted herbs and flowers on the south-facing hillside.
different-church-lady
Uhhhh… not for nothin’ but it seems to be saying something about our society when violent anal penetration is considered a sexual threat instead of torture, no?
NorthLeft12
It is interesting to me that right wingers and libertarians seem to be very comfortable with calling vile, cruel, and bigoted personal attacks “free speech” that somehow deserves to be heard, even going as far as saying that those on the left must listen to these voices.
But when the criticism and consequences of their hateful actions comes due, they act shocked and outraged and complain that their special views are somehow essential to the the public discourse.
A word to Ingram and Maher; your views are not unique, nor special. There are hundreds of men and women that not only share your views, but probably publicly air them before you do. They could take your jobs tomorrow and no one would bat an eyelash.
NorthLeft12
@different-church-lady: Or an actual death threat?
Perhaps our laws are different up here, but I am always surprised [less so as time goes on] with the threats of violence that pass for public discourse in the US.
Brachiator
@different-church-lady:
Weirdly enough, the hot poker imagery has been around since the death of English King Edward II in the 14th century, and linked sexual imagery and torture.
Vile and disgusting, but very old school.
BC in Illinois
This will be big news in St Louis. He’s been a blot on the local scene for years. And it gets even better.
While today’s story is about his being fired from his TV spot, he also has a radio show: “Allman in the Morning” FM NewsTalk 97.1
But, as the Washington Post says:
This is so sweet.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.)
I don’t know. If you think he won’t fit right in at Breitbart, I don’t think you’ve been keeping up on Breitbart.
Boris, Rasputin's Evil Twin
@Balconesfault: Good question. It’s obvious he’s stupid and has the morals of a maggot, but is he stupid enough and low enough to take a job in the Trump disaster?
Procopius
Naw. I can think of half a dozen places right off the bat. Either the Cato Institute or Heritage Action. He can work as a “producer” at Fox. Their names usually aren’t shown, who would notice? Infowars. Red State. Breitbart, as already mentioned. Doesn’t Bill O’Reilly have some kind of enterprise? NRATV. He might even be able to make a (modest) living on YouTube, but I doubt that would satisfy him. He doesn’t have to worry, they’ll find a well-paying place for him.
Procopius
@r€nato:
Fcuk Bill Maher.
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
This is exactly what Allman is referencing, because Mel Gibson included a scene depicting this alleged method of murder in Braveheart.
And, yes, the murder method was supposedly chosen because Edward II was gay.
DonL140
Add Sinclair to the NRA on the list of right wing corporations which short futures. Corporations which have depended on the riling the base are in big, big trouble. Trumpism is going to jump the shark before Nov. It’s going to happen very fast. Sooner rather than later. in the future, people will be aghast at those who once belonged to the NRA, in the same way nobody (of consequence) admits to being a member of the KKK or the Nazi party. Who cares if you were a commie, now?
The world is changing. 2018 is the year it all changed.
Hungry Joe
Re the canning of Lindsey Buckingham: ***SIGH*** It’s always the new guy who gets picked on.