As of this writing, not a peep from the Minnesota Vikings, where he’s been their play-by-play announcer on the radio for decades. Allen is also unlikely to suffer any repercussions from KFAN, which is owned by iHeartMedia (formerly Clear Channel).
Source: Awful Announcing
Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen appears to believe that “paid protesters” are part of the massive groups of people in and around Minneapolis dissenting and protesting the aggressive tactics and violence related to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and other federal agents, which has now led to several deaths.
During Friday’s episode of The Paul Allen Show on Twin Cities radio station KFAN, Allen, Chad Greenway, and Alec Lewis opened the show discussing the intense cold weather in the region. One person mentioned the recent story about a Los Angeles Rams player putting cayenne in his socks to stay warm, and Allen mentioned the urban legend about trees “exploding” from cold weather.
Umprompted, Allen then interjected by asking, “In conditions like this, do paid protesters get hazard pay? Those are the things that I’ve been thinking about this morning.”
A few moments later, he repeated his “paid protesters” jibe. That didn’t sit well, and his comments were later deleted from the podcast.
Allen’s specific comments appear to have been removed from the show’s podcast feed.
The paid protestor conspiracy theory is one that right-wing politicians and conservative groups have pushed strongly in recent years to downplay the authenticity of movements against their policies or aligned issues. President Donald Trump has often made unfounded claims about paid protesters during both presidencies, including the protests in Minneapolis over ICE agent agitation.
Allen later made some half-hearted “abject” apology (probably to avoid being suspended or losing his job that he’s been doing for about three decades).
And then the usual blubbering and getting old-tyme religion involved, to prove that, at heart, he’s really a good person and not some right-wing lunatic who’s so divorced from reality that he doesn’t realize how insensitive his remarks were in a city grieving, and emotions are so raw (until the station manager explained it to him, probably). All damage control to keep his job and keep the advertisers onboard.
Sickening.
UPDATE: Upon reflection, Paul Allen is taking a few days off.
Open thread below…
