Vikings radio voice Paul Allen is stepping away from the microphone for several days after describing anti-ICE demonstrators in Minneapolis as paid protesters.
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According to Breitbart, Allen opened his Monday program with a public mea culpa and the announcement that he would be taking a few days off in response to the uproar. The flap traces back to Friday, when Allen and co-host, former Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway, were riffing on the internet myth of trees exploding in extreme cold and Allen quipped, In conditions like this, do paid protesters get hazard pay?
A short time later, during a segment on NFL coaching vacancies, Allen again invoked the phrase while joking about public criticism of league figures. Everybodys catching strays this week, he said. [Brian] Flores, Kevin Stefanski from Baker [Mayfield], Charlie Biyatch caught one out of nowhere. Theyre just all over, paid protesters caught one this morning.
After online blowbackdriven largely by sports media outlets that routinely lean left on cultural issuesAllen returned to the airwaves to issue a more formal apology and announce he was taking a few days off. I made a comment on-air Friday about protesters and the weather that was insensitive and poorly timed, and Im sorry, he said.
It was a misguided attempt at humor, and while it was never meant with any ill intent or political affront, I absolutely and wholeheartedly want to apologize to those who genuinely were hurt or offended by it. Nine-to-noon doesnt formulate political opinions. We dont bash or praise political discussions or even focus on political issues. For now, the station has not said when Allen will resume his duties, underscoring how quickly a lighthearted jab about paid protesters can trigger a disproportionate backlash in todays hyper-politicized media climate.
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