Conservative radio show host Chuck Bonniwell has been fired after making a joke about a school shooting on-air in relation to Donald Trump’s impeachment. His wife and co-host Julie Hayden was also sacked.
Denver, Colorado’s conservative Christian radio station 710 KNUS canceled the “Chuck & Julie Show” on Wednesday. On the Tuesday afternoon episode of the show, Bonniwell tells Hayden, “You know, you wish for a nice school shooting to interrupt the monopoly.” Hayden immediately jumped in a failed attempt at damage-control by responding “No, no, don’t even say that! Don’t call us! Chuck didn’t say that.” The words have been quoted by a report published by outlet, Deadline.
Bonniwell, realizing his mistake, quickly followed up that “no one would be hurt” in his desired school shooting event.
The station has released a statement on the insensitive and distasteful remarks on Twitter. KNUS wrote on the social media platform:
“Given the history of school violence that has plagued our community, 710 KNUS confirms that an inappropriate comment was made on the Chuck & Julie show by co-host Chuck Bonniwell. A programming decision was made to end the program immediately.”
KNUS radio host Chuck Bonniwell off the air for wishing for "a nice school shooting" to interrupt coverage of “the never-ending impeachment of Donald Trump” https://t.co/kFwhsYFTfJ
— Denver7 News (@DenverChannel) December 19, 2019
Bonniwell went on to release his own statement on the matter. Speaking to The Denver Post, he said “I made an inappropriate comment meant as a joke. I’m sorry it was not received in that way.”
Business Insider reports that the “Chuck & Julie Show” is set to be replaced by “America First” hosted by Sebastian Gorka. Gorka is a former official of the Trump administration.