Over the weekend, conservative talk show host Jamie Allman went into social media lockdown after residents in and around St. Louis — where his show is based — began urging advertisers to drop their sponsorship in response to Allman’s graphic threat of violence towards Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg.
Allman initially posted the threatening tweet — which included a reference to sexual assault — in March. The tweet was highlighted on Sunday by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and in the days that followed, local business began to pull their ads from Allman’s show in protest.
Despite an initial effort to remain defiant in the face of the advertiser exodus, on Monday evening, Allman resigned from local ABC affiliate KDNL.
“We have accepted Mr. Allman’s resignation, and his show has been canceled,” spokesman Ronn Torossian told the Washington Post.
Allman is no stranger to controversy, nor is this the first time he’s attacked outspoken teenagers. Democratic State Rep. Stacey Newman, who first called on residents to pressure Allman’s advertisers, also said Allman had previously attacked students protesting a local school board candidate who describes herself as a “Confederate,” and has a lengthy history of Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, and racist posts on her social media accounts.
KDNL is one of several dozen local news affiliates owned by Sinclair Broadcasting Group, a far-right media company that has been in the news lately for airing pro-Trump propaganda segments dressed up as news reports.
Allman’s abrupt departure from his eponymous show echoes similar fallout sustained by other conservatives who have attacked survivors of the Parkland school shooting in February. On Monday, Laura Ingraham returned to her own Fox News show for the first time in more than a week after more than a dozen advertisers pulled their business because she mocked Hogg on Twitter; the NRA also lost almost every one of its corporate partners after several of its officials — most notably spokeswoman Dana Loesch — antagonized the Parkland teens publicly.
In addition to his television show, Allman also hosts a daily radio program. He was missing from the show on Tuesday morning, with the stand-in host stating simply, “Jamie’s taking a couple of days off.”