KFNS-FM Morning Show Host Vic Faust was recorded calling a female co-host fat, nasty and stupid off-air during a commercial break. The nearly 5-minute verbal brawl between Faust and Crystal Cooper was leaked to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and broadcast on YouTube.
Faust also works for the local Fox-TV affiliate.
You can listen to the 5 minutes of profanity-laced audio at the St. Louis Dispatch website HERE.
Faust accused Cooper of being a know-it-all. When Cooper pushed back on the accusation, he responded with, “shut the f*** up!” He called her trash, criticized her parenting skills and called her stupid. He also told her not to come back to work, to which she responded that he wasn’t her boss.
Cooper also got in a few responses, telling Faust to grow up.
Cooper’s Facebook page said she left the station on Sept. 13, the day she and Faust fought.
It’s unclear what Faust’s future is on the radio station. He was not on the TV station Monday or Tuesday this week. The radio station is licensed out of Troy, Missouri, and its studios are in Lake Saint Louis. The company that owns the radio station is Viper Broadcasting. The General Manager is Chris Blevins, who we’ve reached out to for comment.
If the was an employee of yours, would you fire him?
Wow. No debate here at all needed. We don’t know what brought them to this point, but if this has happened before (and it sounds like it did), it was up to management to immediately step in and stop it, whatever it takes. How did these people get put together anyway? Seems there’s a lack of chemistry from the get-go. Did she bring it up to management? Did he? Did anyone? Pretty obvious that whoever controlled the recording of the studio mics had an agenda by leaking it to the newspaper. Everyone here should lawyer up…and keep those checkbooks handy.
Given the difference in volume and proximity to the speakers, it would reason that the female cast member started recording the conversation on a smartphone after she started being abused which is why we do not hear the start of the off air conversation. Would also speculate that is why she said very little during the recording when attacked.
Agree with Larry. If he has not been fired, start by getting rid of his PD. Then show him the door as well. And I would see to it that she knows her job is in jeopardy as well. Might be time to clean house and restore a proper work environment all around.
Depends entirely on historical context. Was this an isolated instance, or is this a consistent pattern? Has Faust done this before and been warned?
Clearly, this is inappropriate. At the very least, he should be suspended without pay and warned that if anything like this happens again it will be grounds for immediate termination. If this is a pattern and he has been previously warned, he needs to be shown the door.
I also have to wonder why this is all on tape. Nobody should be dropping F and S-bombs anywhere near a mic.
If he is still employed his PD should be fired.
The business would be so much easier if we didn’t have to deal with people!
It clearly is a situation that should have been handled earlier by management. Now is too late. Damage done. Everyone needs to go their separate ways. In my experience, the more talented an on-air talent is, the more difficult it is to manage ego and temperment.
He should be arrested and immediately convicted. Men believe they rule the airwaves. He’s a mysoginistic, sexist, racist man who has been entitled to commit this behavior. Automatic prison sentences for hate speech will turn this industry around in a hurry. Radio is no longer a safe place for women. She needs to be made the host, given a massive salary increase and a public apology should be immediately made…
Sorry…. while these comments were grossly inappropriate, arrest for this sort of speech is a bridge too far. Grounds for termination…. possibly, grounds for a civil lawsuit, probably… but prison…. no.
He should be let go from BOTH the radio station and the television station. That’s not the image either business wants to project. The man (?) has some serious anger issues and needs help.
FIRE HIM. This should not be happening in ANY workplace. If you have problems with each other work it out like mature adults like 4 year old boys. And to the commenter above, puh-leeeez. Male, female dynamic? Pshaw.
Is it a rhetorical question?
One can get into the dynamics of what was said on-air by each character leading up to the off air exchange. One can also debate if there was a management failure in defining roles of the show’s characters or if management should have stepped before this if indeed one character stated they had been attacked on air 4 times previously and reported it (or claimed to be attacked and claimed to have been reported).
Listening to the banter between the two male casts members and then what the female member says that apparently sets off the male host clearly shows a difference in how to host responds to the other male vs the female. Obviously, this had been building as it’s really unclear to me what set him off compared to earlier banter. And we have no idea what happened on previous day (though it sounds pretty harmless in the recap).
A lot of failures to go round including management.
But, bottom line, all that really doesn’t matter.
What exists on that clip is a slam dunk lawsuit over a hostile work environment, so it has to be dealt with. Too many on-air personalities forget they are actors playing a role and let their ego dictate their judgement. That often leads to their demise. And today there are more ways to blow yourself up than ever.