A meteorologist has reportedly been fired from the Milwaukee-based CBS58 station after criticizing tech billionaire Elon Musk for making a gesture at a Donald Trump inauguration rally that drew comparisons to a Nazi salute.
Musk, who made the gesture twice while thanking Trump's supporters, has denied it was a Nazi salute; however, some Jewish lawmakers have sounded the alarm, and some neo-Nazi groups are celebrating what they see as a shout-out to them.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Sam Kuffel, who worked on weather reports for the station, made a pair of posts to her personal Instagram account about the incident. One said, "Dude Nazi saluted twice. TWICE. During the inauguration. You f---with this and this man, I don't f--- with you. Full stop." Another was a freeze frame of a scene from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," with the words, "Screw that old b---h. He's a Nazi."
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After these posts were made, and attracted outrage from pro-Trump figures, CBS58 put out a memo saying, "Meteorologist Sam Kuffel is no longer employed at CBS58. A search for a replacement is underway." All traces of her were also scrubbed from the station's site.
The news of Kuffel's ouster triggered anger from some other commenters online.
"Bulls---. Complete and utter bulls---," wrote Gizmodo tech reporter Matt Novak.
"Gosh it's a good thing Elon saved free speech from cancel culture," wrote nonfiction author E.W. Niedermeyer, who has covered Musk's companies.
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