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KFAN's Paul Allen apologizes for 'cheap one-liner' about 'paid protesters'

Originally posted on Bring Me The News  |  By Adam Uren  |  Last updated Jan 25, 2026 12:32 PM ET

Longtime Minnesota Vikings radio announcer Paul Allen's off-the-cuff comments about "paid protesters" on KFAN radio received backlash locally and have now caught national attention after being publicized by Awful Announcing.   

It happened in the opening minutes of Allen's Friday morning radio show, when he was chatting with former Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway, and Vikings beat reporter Alec Lewis. They were discussing the frigid weather when the topic of exploding trees came up, ultimately leading to Allen's remark about "paid protesters."

Allen: The potential of trees exploding? 

Greenway: Is that real? Can we talk about that for one second?

Allen: I'm beginning to wonder if, in conditions like this, do paid protesters get hazard pay? Those are the things that I've been thinking about this morning. 

Greenway: Yeah, probably not going to touch that one. 

Allen: Everybody's catching strays this week. (Brian) Flores, Kevin Stefanski from Baker (Mayfield), Charlie Biatch caught one out of nowhere. Paid protesters caught one this morning. 

The comments, which pushes the oft-repeated right-wing talking point that anyone protesting against the Trump administration is being "paid" to do so, were made ahead of Friday afternoon's march against ICE in downtown Minneapolis that attracted more than 10,000 residents in -25F wind chills.

Awful Announcing published the audio to social media, and KFAN has since deleted the audio from the official podcast. 

On Saturday, Allen was watching coverage of Hockey Day Minnesota when he posted on X that former Gophers basketball player Parker Fox was "firing bullets" as a contributor during local television coverage of the outdoor hockey games in Hastings. 

He wound up deleting the post, acknowledging that using the phrase "firing bullets" wasn't appropriate considering federal agents had just fatally shot 37-year-old Alex Pretti in south Minneapolis. 

"Pulled that post I had praising friend Parker Fox for doing good work on TV and the words I used. Did not know at that time about the shooting of a man in MPLS," Allen explained. "I do now and yanked the tweet because my description of his performance lacked tact given the current situation. I am sorry. May God be with us all."

Allen later expressed sadness over the "terror" that is happening amid the Trump administration's immigration surge in Minnesota, also apologizing for what he called a "cheap one-liner" during his radio show. 

"I have to stop watching all this for a little bit. I'm so sad this terror is happening all around us here in MN. I just prayed to God's will for it to somehow stop and now and started crying," Allen wrote. 

"I truly am sorry for all hurting like me through this, and I just want us to be a Love Covenant again. Truly. Let's all pray this stops somehow because it's awful. And no more cheap one-liners from me." 

Less than 24 hours after thousands of protesters braved the cold to protest the ICE crackdown in Minnesota, federal agents fatally shot Pretti on Nicollet Avenue South in Minneapolis' Eat Street neighborhood.

Bring Me The News has reached out to iHeartRadio Minneapolis and Allen for comment. 

This article first appeared on Bring Me The News and was syndicated with permission.

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