ABC 7 suspends Mark Giangreco for ‘lunatic’ Trump tweet

WLS-Channel 7 has slapped sports anchor Mark Giangreco with a multi-week suspension for a tweet in which he called President Donald Trump a “cartoon lunatic” and referred to Trump voters as “simpletons.”

Management of the top-rated ABC-owned station released the following statement Thursday: “Mark Giangreco’s Twitter comments are not in line with ABC 7 Chicago’s non-partisan editorial standards. We’ve reviewed the matter and are taking the appropriate action.”

An ABC 7 spokeswoman would not elaborate on the action. Sources said Giangreco would be suspended without pay for “multiple weeks,” starting Monday.

Reached Thursday, Giangreco declined to comment. His agent, Joel Weisman, did not respond to a request for comment.

The controversy began last Sunday when Giangreco reacted to a tweet by Bruce Arthur, sports columnist for the Toronto Star, who wrote: “Donald Trump: a hateful ignorant corrupt simpleton supported by 87% of Republicans.”

In reply, Giangreco tweeted: “So obvious, so disturbing. America exposed as a country full of simpletons who allowed this cartoon lunatic to be ‘elected.’”

Giangreco later deleted the post, but not before it was picked up by Chicago City Wire, a website associated with conservative talk show host Dan Proft, morning personality on Salem Media news/talk WIND AM 560. (The headline: “ABC 7 Chicago Sports Anchor Giangreco derides America as ‘country full of simpletons,’ questions legitimacy of presidential election.”) The industry website TVSpy also reported on it.

Known as much for his sarcasm as for his sharp suits, Giangreco, 64, has been one of Chicago’s highest paid and most popular sportscasters for 35 years. He joined ABC 7 in 1994 after 12 years at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5.

In 2004, Giangreco was suspended one week without pay for joking about Detroit going up in flames after the Pistons won the NBA Championship. Over a black-and-white movie clip of a city burning, he called it a “typical night for Detroit.”

In 2014 he apologized for a airing a graphic over his shoulder that offended some viewers for its allusion to suicide. A photo of Bears quarterback Jay Cutler was captioned: “Cut him or cut your wrists.” Later Giangreco said: “My remarks were inappropriate, and I deeply regret and apologize for this incident.”

How does this happen but Mitch lets Julie tweet stuff that's 10x worse everyday ?

anyone in the history of the world made more money with less talent?

Maybe our current President.

I bet Giangreco has a higher net worth.

$3.00 though I'm not sure how we'll ever find out.

How does this happen but Mitch lets Julie tweet stuff that's 10x worse everyday ?

Here's something to look at in the event you miss him.

We rip on her for her making everything about Julie... Yet it's so easy to make everything about Julie

anyone in the history of the world made more money with less talent?

damn he's still on the air there? Sure miss Tim Weigal.

He's also a regular on Waddle and Silverman

He's also a regular on Waddle and Silverman

I'll pull Mark's last loan application for a mortgage from the interbank document center, and we'll use Trump's campaign disclosure forms to get his net worth. You'll see Mark is worth seven figures and Trump is worth ten.

His hour or so segments are a boring interlude to an even more boring show.

anyone in the history of the world made more money with less talent?

you're going to have to send me a copy of course.