A pair of conservative radio hosts in Chicago are facing blowback after they ridiculed Gus Walz, the 17-year-old son of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, for his emotional standing ovation at the Democratic National Convention.
Mocking the teenager, the broadcasters took turns blubbering into their microphones, comparing him to a Chris Farley caricature on Saturday Night Live.
Gus Walz vaulted into the national spotlight as one of the feel-good highlights of the convention, picked up by cameras as he wept openly and shouted, “That’s my dad!” The online affection was quickly met and nearly subsumed by a tidal wave of right-wing contempt, however.
Most notably, the pundit Ann Coulter posted a clip of Walz alongside the caption “Talk about weird…” She deleted the tweet after it was met with a firestorm of criticism, with commenters pointing out that Coulter and her allies were picking on a boy with a nonverbal learning disorder. (Walz has attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and anxiety, his parents told People this month.)
But that didn’t deter Chicago’s Morning Answer co-hosts Amy Jacobson and Dan Proft from leaping into the pile-on. While on the air last Thursday, the broadcasters began discussing Walz.
Gus, the son of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, reacts to his father’s speech on Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention.
Brendan McDermid/Reuters
“What’s the deal with [Gov. Walz’s] kid?” Proft asked. “Can somebody get Gus Walz some ritalin?”
“Well, he’s excited,” Jacobson replied. She began imitating Walz’s cry of “that’s my dad,” pointing and repeating it over and over again.
Saying the teenager had reminded him of something, Proft then played a clearly pre-prepared clip of a Saturday Night Live sketch from 1994, in which the comedian Chris Farley plays a 7-year-old Andrew Giuliani.
A hyperactive Farley-as-Giuliani accompanies his father, played by Kevin Nealon, onstage during his inaugural address as New York City mayor, and does his best to derail the speech. Waving, blowing kisses, and climbing onto the podium, Farley shouts “My dad’s mayor! Oh yeah!” repeatedly.
“That’s exactly what that Walz kid did,” Proft said by way of explanation after the clip finished playing. “I mean, he’s not 11. He’s 17.”
As Jacobson laughed, Proft continued taunting Walz, mimicking him and asking, “What the hell was that? C’mon.”
Then, after a pause, he added, “I don’t go after family members unless they invite themselves into the arena like Hunter Biden did, but I mean—it’s just weird. Weird. Y’know, use Tim Walz’s word against him.”
U.S. Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz gestures next to his son Gus and his daughter Hope on Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention.
Mike Segar/Reuters
Both hosts are known locally for their “strong right-wing commentary,” according to the Chicago Tribune, but the broadcast was a bridge too far for some in the community. After learning of Jacobson’s part in it, a group of parents wrote outraged letters to officials at the public school where she coaches varsity volleyball, according to the newspaper.
“This isn’t about what her political views may or may not be,” one parent, Amanda Griffith-Atkins, told the Tribune. “It’s about the fact that she mocked a child with a disability or that she sat there silently while somebody else did it, and she didn’t speak up about it.”
Neither Chicago Public Schools nor administrators at the school in question, Amundsen High School, replied to the Tribune’s requests for comment.
For her part, Jacobson issued an on-air apology alongside Proft the morning after their Thursday show.
“I would have reacted differently if I had the additional information. I had no idea he had any type of learning disability or ADHD,” she said, according to the Tribune.
Proft has since apparently been removed from a position on the board of disability advocacy group Envision Unlimited. A Sunday statement from the organization noted that an unnamed board member who had “made comments that were wholly inconsistent with our values and code of ethics and at their core insensitive and insulting to the very people and families that we serve” had been ousted by unanimous decision.
Wisconsin radio host Jay Weber was hit by similar fury after criticizing Walz on X last week. “Sorry, but this is embarrassing for both father and son,” he tweeted. “If the Walzs [sic] represent today’s American man, this country is screwed; ‘Meet my son, Gus. He’s a blubbering bitch boy. His mother and I are very proud.’”
Weber later deleted the tweet and apologized for his “stupid and hurtful” remarks.
