Radio host's call for Trump impeachment to be interrupted by 'nice school shooting' gets show canceled
A Denver talk radio show has been canceled after one of its cohosts said on air that he hoped "a nice school shooting" would interrupt news coverage of "the never-ending impeachment of Donald Trump."
Chuck Bonniwell, cohost of the Chuck & Julie show on 710 KNUS, made the comments roughly 22 minutes into the show Tuesday afternoon -- drawing backlash from the families of some Colorado shooting victims.
“All right, Chuck Bonniwell, Julie Hayden here, a little after 1:30, talking about the never-ending impeachment of Donald Trump,” Bonniwell said, according to the Colorado Times Recorder. “You know, you wish for a nice school shooting."
“Don’t even — don’t even say that. No, don’t even say that,” Hayden, his wife and cohost, responded. “Don’t call us. Chuck didn’t say that.”
Bonniwell quickly backtracked and said: "which no one would be hurt."
On Wednesday evening, 710 KNUS posted a statement on Twitter that the program had been canceled.
"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," the statement read.
Bonniwell issued an apology on Twitter, declaring the comment was initially meant as a joke.
”Regarding the @710KNUS situations. Chuck Bonniwell has this comment. 'I made an inappropriate comment meant as a joke. I’m sorry it was not received that way'," a since-deleted tweet from the Chuck and Julie Twitter account read.
The Denver area has been the site of some notorious school shootings over the years, such as the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton and the 2012 shooting at a movie theater in Aurora. The two towns are about 17 miles apart.
Sandy Phillips, who lost her daughter Jessi in the Aurora shooting, suggested on Twitter that Bonniwell should be fired.
"This guy should be fired. Total ignorance. Shootings hurt us all...just ask witnesses and first responders," she said. "You don't have to be shot to be wounded."
John Castillo, whose 18-year-old son Kendrick was killed in the STEM Highlands Ranch School shooting back in May, called Bonniwell's comments "unbelievable."
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"Unbelievable that a radio host would suggest a school shooting to distract from the presidential impeachment," he wrote.