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Paul Allen Off Air At K-FAN Following "Paid Protesters" Remark

DToTheJ

DToTheJ

... and evidently, nobody on this board noticed or cared.

From Inside Radio, January 27:

The comment occurred during a Friday broadcast featuring Allen alongside former Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway and Vikings beat reporter Alec Lewis. The group was discussing a claim by viral meteorologist Max Schuster that extreme cold could cause trees to explode in Minnesota, the Dakotas and Wisconsin as a major winter storm moved across much of the U.S.

Earlier that day, more than 10,000 people marched in downtown Minneapolis to protest the federal government’s immigration crackdown, despite below-zero temperatures.

“I’m beginning to wonder if, in conditions like this, do paid protesters get hazard pay? Those are the things that I’ve been thinking about this morning,” Allen said during the broadcast.

“Yeah, probably not going to touch that one,” Greenway responded.
Allen returned this week and once again apologized for his remark.

www.insideradio.com

Paul Allen Back On ‘K-FAN’ Following Controversial Comment.

iHeartMedia sports “100.3 K-Fan” KFXN Minneapolis host Paul Allen has returned to the airwaves after missing the previous week after a controversial remark about “paid protesters” in Minnesota. The comment,
www.insideradio.com www.insideradio.com
 
I am out of the market, but I care. Paul Allen is by far my favorite NFL play-by-play announcer and i think his radio show is pretty good too, even though I am not a daily listener.

That honestly is such a mild comment, I am surprised he even got a suspension. I'm sure similar sentiments were heard every day on sister station KTLK. I guess the difference is he is local and has strong ratings with people across the political spectrum.
 
Don’t forget, sports talk is beholden to another group that people don’t really notice:

The teams themselves.

If someone took offense to his line (which was ridiculously mild in comparison to a lot of stuff) in the Vikings front office, press passes can easily be yanked. Players/coaches can be barred from talking on that station.

It’s difficult to steer 100% to sports talk when you have multiple hours to fill, but one thing that rarely works is injecting politics (especially given the nonsense going on in Minnesota currently) into a show that spreads across both sides of the aisle politically
 
I certainly noticed the news story. The Star Tribune, the Pioneer Press, and Minnesota Public Radio covered the story.

There has been some excellent reporting from Minnesota Public Radio and WCCO-AM about immigration enforcement and its fallout. We should feel very lucky to have local radio journalists in Minnesota.
 
A couple of points.

First, I personally met a paid protester once on one of the paratransit buses in the Phoenix area. He was being paid to protest something going on in a given corporation and not government policy. I never heard anything about that protest in the news.

Second, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (you know, the one that permits government criticism and oversight by the press) does not distinguish between protesters who are paid and those who aren't. It only requires that the government allow the people to peaceably assemble to air and seek redress for their grievances against the government. And while I don't believe that what is occurring in Minnesota is paid protests (what is happening in Minneapolis is very appalling in my view and should be protested), the First Amendment does not preclude protesters from being paid.
 
pattywells said:
I suppose the question that arises - if you take paid time off to go to a protest, are you a paid protestor?
Click to expand...
No. Paid Time Off can be used for whatever you want. If you as an employee want to use it to protest, you can, but no company gives "Paid time off" to protest. Taking a PTO day to do that gives one less day to most employees for a vacation or a sick day.
 


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