Sinclair pundit resigns after threatening Parkland survivor David Hogg on Twitter

A commentator with the Sinclair Broadcasting Group has resigned after sending a tweet about a Parkland teen survivor in March, in which he threatened “to ram a hot poker up David Hogg’s ass.”

Jamie Allman, a St. Louis–based conservative TV and radio host, 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.” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the context of the tweet was unclear.

The tweet was posted on March 26. But it was resurfaced by the Riverfront Times and led to calls for advertising boycotts of his TV show on the Sinclair-owned local ABC affiliate and his talk radio show last week. A similar boycott effort took off against Fox News host Laura Ingraham after she mocked Hogg for not getting into four colleges.

By Monday night, Allman had resigned from Sinclair, the Washington Post reported.

“We have accepted Mr. Allman’s resignation, and his [TV] show has been canceled,” Sinclair spokesperson Ronn Torossian told the Post.

On Tuesday morning, the Post reported that Allman also didn’t host his radio show. The substitute host said Allman is “taking a couple of days off.”

Allman’s Twitter account is now private.

Although largely a local media figure, Allman’s remarks drew national attention both because of how out-of-line they were and because they exemplified a broader pattern in conservative media of personally attacking Hogg, Emma Gonzalez, and other survivors of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which killed 17 people.

Many conservatives have been critical of the Parkland survivors’ political and policy beliefs, which isn’t too surprising given that the survivors have called for gun control measures that conservatives are opposed to. But some conservative figures, like Allman, have gone further than that — attacking the kids in vicious and personal ways.

It’s not unusual for politics to get personal. But it’s particularly glaring when prominent pundits and even lawmakers are going after teenagers in such a personal way.

Allman isn’t the only conservative personally attacking the Parkland survivors

Other examples of false, bizarre, and personal conservative attacks on the Parkland survivors:

• Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, the host of Infowars, has pushed conspiracy theories that the March for Our Lives organizers are “being funded” and “given scripts” — insinuating that they’re actors.
• Conservative documentarian and noted troll Dinesh D’Souza tweeted in February, “How interesting to hear students who can’t support themselves for one day giving us lectures about American social policy.”
• The campaign of Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who has a history of racism, posted a meme on his Facebook page mocking March for Our Lives organizer Gonzalez for her Cuban heritage. The meme stated, “This is how you look when you claim Cuban heritage yet don’t speak Spanish and ignore the fact that your ancestors fled the island when the dictatorship turned Cuba into a prison camp, after removing all weapons from its citizens; hence their right to self defense.”

• On Twitter, conservative figures, including actor Adam Baldwin, have shared fake images of Gonzalez tearing up the US Constitution. In the real image, she was tearing up a gun target.
• The conservative outlet Breitbart rounded up tweets that falsely suggested Hogg performed a Nazi salute during the March for Our Lives in Washington, DC.
• Infowars’ Jones also put out a video of Hogg’s March for Our Lives speech dubbed with an Adolf Hitler speech, and a separate video that depicted Gonzalez as a member of the Hitler Youth.

• Leslie Gibson, a Republican candidate for the Maine state House, called Gonzalez a “skinhead lesbian” and Hogg a “moron” and a “baldfaced liar.” The comments drew so much criticism that he dropped out of the race.
• Rick Santorum, a former Republican senator from Pennsylvania, argued that instead of advocating for gun control, Parkland survivors should take personal responsibility for preventing deadly shooters — and learn CPR: “How about kids instead of looking to someone else to solve their problem, do something about maybe taking CPR classes or trying to deal with situations that when there is a violent shooter that you can actually respond to that.” Santorum later said he misspoke.
• Several conservative outlets falsely suggested that Gonzalez admitted to bullying the Parkland shooter. This is part of a broader victim-blaming campaign: It has become a common talking point to insinuate that the shooter only carried out the attack because he was socially isolated, so students should have tried to befriend him to prevent the shooting. (A Stoneman Douglas student wrote an op-ed in the New York Times in response to the claim, detailing the time she tried to befriend the shooter to no avail.)
• Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Twitter mocked Hogg for getting rejected by four colleges. After Hogg called on advertisers to boycott her show, Ingraham apologized. Companies from Hulu to Nestle have continued dropping ads on her program anyway.
• Frank Stallone, actor and brother of Sylvester Stallone, on Twitter called Hogg a “pussy,” saying that he’s “getting a little too big for his britches” and that “someone from his age group is dying to sucker punch this rich little bitch.” Stallone also called Gonzalez “another headline grabbing clown.” Stallone quickly deleted the tweets and later apologized for his remarks.
• Ted Nugent, NRA board member and rock musician, called the Parkland survivors “liars,” “poor, mushy-brained children,” and “soulless” during an interview on The Joe Pags Show in March. “These poor children — I’m afraid to say and it hurts me to say this, but the evidence is irrefutable — they have no soul,” Nugent said. Nugent later stood by his comments.

Allman’s comment, then, isn’t a one-off incident of a conservative attacking one of the Parkland survivors. It’s part of a broader character assassination campaign against these students.

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