The Kansas City Star (aka “the Red Star”) is facing a potential advertiser boycott after publishing an obnoxious editorial on September 11 that defended NFL national anthem protests, offending area residents.
The Star’s wokest SJW writer, Jenee Osterheldt, has moved at least some folks to take civic action, local blogger Tony Botello reported at his influential blog, Tony’s Kansas City.
“HAS HOOPZ FINALLY CROSSED THE LINE BY REVEALING HER DISDAIN FOR THE NATIONAL ANTHEM AND THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE???” the blogger asked his readers in all caps and red font. (“Hoopz” is apparently a reference to Osterheldt’s penchant for large hoop earrings.)
Her editorial begins insultingly: “Some blissfully ignorant and privileged folk think Kansas City Chief Marcus Peters should explain himself better. You know, ‘whitesplain.’” It goes downhill from there.
For the second season in a row, a number of NFL players including Marcus Peters have chosen to dishonor the national anthem by refusing to stand while it is played. Osterheldt not only defends the practice, but has has decided to join them.
“I sit the national anthem out, too,” she wrote. “And I quit the Pledge of Allegiance once I realized the flag represents a historically broken promise of liberty and justice for all.”
In what the KC area blog the Sentinel called perhaps “the most wild-eyed sentence ever written by a paid Star editorialist,” she added, “America is all about divisibility. Quit screaming about the importance of an anthem and a flag while going mute when it comes to black lives, brutality, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and white supremacy.”
Like so many on the left, Osterheldt seems to have no greater passion than attributing hate to others less enlightened than she. That she uses a fake southern dialect no more convincing than Hillary Clinton’s–“But y’all worried about the anthem, not the humans”–elevates her rhetoric from the merely crazed to the fully cringe-worthy.
As Botello acknowledges, boycotts rarely work against monopoly media outlets, but the one being organized by a person he refers to as an “awesome TKC tipster” sounds serious.
“For me, this anti-American, anti-Anthem column is the last straw. Along with the help of two employees who have volunteered their time, I’ll be contacting as many KC Star advertisers as possible today and encouraging them to remove their marketing from this paper,” writes the tipster.
The tipster continues, “I’m already talking to Nebraska Furniture Mart about limiting their next ad buy and taking the Star off their distribution list. They’re not as loyal to the newspaper as some people think. I’ve had at least half a dozen advertisers call me back and they are willing to listen to what I have to say.”
As Botello noted, boycotts rarely work, but they do have a way of putting the fear of God into corporate bigwigs. It will be interesting to see what they value more — their commitment to “social justice” or the “ignorant and privileged folk” who make up a substantial portion of their dwindling readership.
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