A conservative commentator in St. Louis has resigned and his show with a Sinclair-owned ABC affiliate was canceled amid widespread outrage over a violent, vulgar tweet he sent about Florida school shooting survivor David Hogg.
Last month, Jamie Allman, who hosted a nightly news show called The Allman Report on KDNL, as well as a morning radio talk show, tweeted, "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."
It was not clear what the message was in response to.
From your employee Jamie Allman @jallman971. Is this OK with you? @971FMTalk
Although Allman tweeted the crude remark on March 26 and later deleted it before making his account private, screenshots recently spread across Twitter, sparking a backlash online and prompting several companies to pull advertisements from his show.
On Monday night, Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns the St. Louis ABC station, confirmed that Allman had resigned and that his program had been terminated.
"Yes, his show is cancelled and he is off the air immediately," Ronn Torossian, a PR representative for Sinclair, told BuzzFeed News.
Allman is the latest example of the growing feud between conservative personalities and teen activists that has spread across cable news and social media platforms since the Valentine's Day school massacre in Parkland, Florida, launched a national, student-led movement for gun control.
His tweet came just two days before Fox News commentator Laura Ingraham mocked Hogg for not getting into college, igniting a similar media firestorm and advertiser boycott.
Ingraham later apologized after dozens of advertisers ditched her and she subsequently took a week-long break from her show. She returned to the air Monday night and spent much of her show attacking "the bullies on the left aiming to silence conservatives."
She did not directly address the controversy over her remarks about Hogg, and did not repeat her tweeted apology.
Though Allman had criticized Hogg before, his violent tweet caught the attention of Missouri Democratic state Rep. Stacey Newman, who called on advertisers to boycott Allman's show. The Riverfront Times, which first drew attention to the tweet, reported that Allman had previously accused the teenage gun control activist of not being a "grown-up" when it came to handling criticism.
As his tweet gained national attention, several companies, including Ruth’s Chris Steak House, announced that they would pull their ads from his show.
On Tuesday morning, Allman did not appear on his radio talk show, “Allman in the Morning" and a guest host told listeners that "Jamie is taking a couple of days off."
Entercom, which recently acquired 97.1 FM, confirmed to BuzzFeed News Tuesday night that Allman would no longer appear on the station after it investigated the incident. The radio host has been with the station for 12 years, an Entercom spokesperson pointed out, but is new to the Philadelphia-based media company.
"After looking into the matter we have decided that Allman will no longer be a member of KFTK-FM and his show has been canceled, effective immediately," Esther-Mireya Tejeda, Entercom's head of communications, told BuzzFeed News. "We have parted ways."
Sinclair, a sprawling, conservative media conglomerate, owns and operates about 200 TV stations across the US — the largest in the country — and is trying to take over more markets.
The company recently came under fire for forcing its news anchors to read promos about "one-sided news stories plaguing our country."
Sinclair's ongoing attempt to purchase the Tribune Media Company has also come under intense scrutiny because the deal would, critics argue, enable the broadcaster to influence dozens more local news stations with conservative-leaning coverage. The deal still requires the approval of federal regulators.