Former Missouri Football Player Fired by St. Louis News Station After Explicit Tirade at Co-Host
Facebook Vic Faust
A former University of Missouri football player was fired from his job as a television news anchor in St. Louis after reports emerged of him berating a co-host on his local morning radio show.
On Thursday, St. Louis-area Fox 2 KLPR station general manager Kurt Krueger confirmed to PEOPLE that Vic Faust is no longer with the news station, though he declined to comment further, citing company policy against personnel issues.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch first reported Faust's firing on Wednesday, following its reporting on his off-air tirade directed at radio co-host Crystal Cooper during Faust's morning show on KFNS (100.7 FM) in Missouri.
Faust used profane words "at least 40 times" during the rant, calling his co-host "fat," "stupid" and "nasty," as well as repeatedly addressing Cooper by "a curse word most commonly directed at women," according to the Post-Dispatch. While the incident did not occur on air, it was recorded and the Post-Dispatch received the audio anonymously at the newspaper's tip line.
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Edited audio of the exchange obtained by the Post-Dispatch appears to show that Faust was angry that Cooper appeared to criticize his computer skills while the show was on the air and accused her of repeatedly criticizing him during the exchange, which runs for over five minutes.
"The problem is that you think whatever you do is right," Faust can be heard saying in the audio. When Cooper denies this, Faust adds: "Then shut the f--- up."
"You think you're special because you went to Villa, but you're nothing," Faust can be heard saying. "You're trash."
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After the incident was first reported on Monday, Faust never returned to the air, and his radio show appears to be on hold, according to the Post-Dispatch.
Faust offered a public apology for the tirade on Instagram and Twitter Wednesday before he appeared to delete his Twitter account.
"I am very sorry. My words hurt Crystal, my colleagues and family. I made a huge mistake and I'm ashamed," Faust wrote on Instagram. "As I work to earn trust again, I hope we can have an open dialogue about respect in the workplace and forgiveness."
Faust asked internet users criticizing him for the tirade to respect his children's privacy, before claiming that he sought to apologize to Cooper multiple times before the story was reported by the Post-Dispatch.
"I did reach out to Crystal three times trying to apologize before story went public. I also offered to publicly apologize on Facebook before the story went public," Faust wrote on Instagram. "Despite the issues we had for weeks leading up to me being secretly recorded, I should have never acted like I did to her. I know there are people who don't believe that I'm sorry. I get it."
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"I have earned all the bad that comes with this," he added. "I had a terrible moment recorded and I will regret it the rest of my life."
Faust, who played in 22 games for the Missouri Tigers between 1994-1995, had worked as a news anchor at the television station for more than seven years before his firing, according to the Post-Dispatch and Sports Reference.
