An Aurora, Colorado, radio program was canceled this week after one of its hosts made a shocking statement on the airwaves regarding impeachment and school shootings.
Chuck Bonniwell, who co-hosted The Chuck & Julie Show on 710 KNUS-AM, made the comments on the Tuesday edition of the show, reportedly saying a school shooting would help take attention away from what he described as the “never-ending” impeachment saga in Washington.
“You know, you wish for a nice school shooting to interrupt it,” Bonniwell said.
Co-host Julie Hayden chimed in to criticize her co-host. “No, don’t even say that! Don’t call us! Chuck, didn’t say that,” she said, per reporting from CBS News.
As the conversation moved onward, before taking calls from others in the community, Bonniwell added a caveat that he didn’t want anyone to get hurt in his hypothetical situation. But the controversy proved to be too big for him to do damage control over, and the show was immediately canceled afterward.
Denver's KNUS scrapped the Chuck & Julie show after co-host Chuck Bonniwell said of the impeachment debate, ""You wish for a nice school shooting to interrupt." https://t.co/TchdDwENkb
— WJZ | CBS Baltimore (@wjz) December 19, 2019
On Wednesday, The Chuck & Julie Show was replaced by a syndicated program featuring former Trump administration official Sebastian Gorka, NBC News reported.
Bonniwell posted an apology on Twitter, which has since been removed. He stated that he “made an inappropriate comment meant as a joke.”
“I’m sorry it was not received that way,” he added.
The comments from Bonniwell are especially insensitive, given the area where he was broadcasting out of. Aurora, Colorado, was the site of a mass shooting in 2012, which took place at a movie theater during a showing of the Batman film, “The Dark Knight.” Twelve people were murdered in that shooting spree.
Just a half-hour drive’s away is Littleton, Colorado, where the Columbine High School shooting took place 20 years ago. That shooting resulted in 24 individuals being murdered.