Last night, the management of local hard-right AM talk radio station 710 KNUS took another step in what may become by the end the biggest housecleaning in local broadcast history: following the abrupt termination of the Chuck and Julie Show after host Chuck Bonniwell said Tuesday on the air that a “nice school shooting” would make a good distraction from the impeachment of President Donald Trump, last night the station announced that alleged unapologetic neo-Nazi Kirk Widlund is no longer employed there either.
9NEWS’ Jeremy Jojola, who picked this story up early after Widlund’s original exposure by the Colorado Springs Anti Fascists, reports on Widlund’s Friday night trip to the cannery:
Widlund was the executive producer of The Steffan Tubbs Show and The American Veteran Show. He also hosts the 710KNUS podcast Keeping America Great.
He claimed years worth of neo-Nazi social media posts attributed to him are an elaborate hoax by the leftist group Antifa.
A review of the social media profile and 710KNUS audio found the neo-Nazi profile and Widlund both described being removed from Twitter on April 14, using very similar language. The social media profile blamed the Twitter ban on Zionist-Occupied Government and a dispute with a “Jewess.”
KNUS management declined to comment on the allegations. Widlund denied any connection to the account but would not discuss why his language on 710KNUS mirrored the social media account in April.
Although Widlund and host Steffan Tubbs strenuously denied he’s the same Kirk Widlund who owns the VK social media profile in question, local news outlets including 9NEWS and Westword quickly identified incidents in real local life discussed by “Nazi Widlund” on VK and IRL Widlund on KNUS, as well as interaction between Widlund and other local racists discussing upcoming protests at a controversial Denver all-ages drag show–all additional corroboration to what Colorado Springs Antifa had exposed in detail in their own story. In the end, there were simply too many pieces that fit together for this extensive social media history to have been faked by an outside party.
Now that it appears the management of KNUS, though they don’t want to come out and say it has reached the same conclusion that everyone else has following their “internal investigation,” Steffan Tubbs, who presents himself as the leader of KNUS’ pack of far-right local hosts, is very unhappy about the situation. And he’s lashing out hard at the press:
So no, Steffan Tubbs still apparently doesn’t think Kirk Widlund deserved to be outed as a closet Nazi. Or maybe he did, but the blame is still on those rascally Antifas and media types who “destroyed a young man’s reputation”–and not the convincing evidence Tubbs has been working side by side with a Nazi for years? Either Tubbs still believes Widlund was framed despite all the corroborating evidence against him, or being Tubbs “colleague and friend” is more important than being a Nazi. Whatever the answer is, it says more about Steffan Tubbs’ judgment than anything else, and Republican officials who appear regularly on KNUS should adjust their schedules accordingly–or be prepared to take some interesting phone calls when they do.
At the end of this ugly and eye-opening exposure of an unrepentant Nazi in an important role at a local radio station, overall we think the civic reputation of the Denver media market will emerge intact. Had it not been for the intense media and public scrutiny of this relatively obscure radio station following Chuck Bonniwell’s sickening remark about desirable school shootings, it’s possible that Widlund might have weathered his exposure as a Nazi simply by denying and holding out until the requests for comment dwindled. We’re pretty sure that’s what KNUS hoped would happen.
But as it turns out, we don’t put up with Nazis on the radio in Denver.
And that makes this holiday season a little brighter.
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"why his language on 710KNUS mirrored the social media account in April."
Because the antifa people are way too good at what they do. Or, something like that. LOL.
He can always get work in the White House communications office.
Closet nazi is the worst elf on the shelf knock-off product.
Love the perspective, Pseudonymous.
Does make me wonder about the commercial appeal of other Republican staples.
Of the suggestions on your list, only the “Dancing Shawn” ( and possibly the Dancing Rick Perry) might have some appeal as action figures.
via GIPHY
Closeted queer folk go through too much real pain to be a marketable toy. And MAGAts like Trump’s base certainly have plenty of closeted queer folks in their midst.
Only bigot-profits like Gordon Klingenschmitt ( who continues to attempt a political comeback running for Springs City Council) might be brazen enough to market a “Trans Demon in the bathroom” toy.
I would pay real money for a toddler toy jail cell with Trump Campaign and Cabinet action figures to put in it. It would be a crowded little toy jail. Maybe by the time my 6 month old granddaughter is old enough to play with it, we can add a bizarrely-coifed orange-faced jump suited former President to the collection.
Steffan, Steffan , Steffan …
Usually media-on-media stories suck. And I get that you think you have some special understanding of false accusations.
But – no one even tried to explain the similar language from the Kirk your coworker and the other Kirk who your Kirk claims is faked. I mean a birth certificate and newspaper article faked 50 + years into the past for a giant celebrity is one thing. But to fake some posts into the past for someone most people never ever heard of? And to have that other Kirk's friends and social media contacts discuss the guy they know as the guy you know?
Steffan, Steffan , Steffan … I know Gorka is kinda sympathetic to the nazis too. And I get when people agree with the big guy that even if, there are fine people on that side too.
But think of it this way- no one was murdered in their driveway this time. And better safe than sorry, especially this time of year. And if it is faked- your Kirk will figure out a way back. If it's true- well, now he has the freedom to speak his truth. Either way – is a good thing.
Happy Christmas
Indeed.
Well, let’s see, hmmmm . . .
. . . there’s orange skin, a laughable comb over, three wives, a barn full of grifter children, a perpetual sense of wounded entitlement, a four-year old’s world view and temperament and ability to comprehend, a garishly gilded buffoonish faux lifestyle, the inability to tie a necktie, an overwhelming urge to torment non-whites, five bankruptcies, unending corruption, indentured servitude to Russian organized criminals, misogyny, a huge coterie of slathering sycophants and criminals, rape and assault victims, William Barr, Nazi and Klan admirers, a ridiculous twitter account, . . .
. . . pretty much everything foul, ignorant, evil, corrupt, self-indulgent, twisted, perverted and destructive, . . .
. . . but definitely not a single instance of ever have uttered, or having, any credible “word”.
You left some things out: failed university, failed airline (unless that's one of the bankruptcies), failed charitable foundation. Wonder if I left anything else out?
Oh, but in the world of Powerful Pear and Moderatus, Trump was so much better than "crooked Hillary," the child porn ring being operated out of the D.C. pizzeria, Whitewater, Seth Rich, and the infamous Clinton "body count."
And why is Steffan Tubbs so emotionally involved in this? Is he a closeted type in league with Widland? Just asking.
Look- I hate Hogan;'s Heroes as much as anyone – but Schultz was not a nazi.
Sure – he wore the uniform and ate their food.
But I take Schultz at his word.
Well, it was a whole lot more funny, as a joke, back in the time before we had a President welcoming and recruiting actual Nazis into his government . . .
. . . back when all of America, and both political parties, were still overwhelmingly anti-fascist.
Sgt Schultz was not a Nazi.
He was a member of the Luftwaffe. He never wears a Nazi armband in the TV show. And, John Banner, the actor, was a Jew born in Wien who would know the difference.
Other than the word of a lying Nazi, ya mean? Well, there's also objectively verifiable data, Steff. You know, the kind that conclusively established yer boi Kirk is a Nazi piece of shit.
Ol' Steff's shit fit makes a person wonder how many "I Hitler" doodles appeared in his middle school dream journal.
One FEWER, not one less.
Grammar Nazi Alert.