Sven Sundgaard is a beloved weatherman and gay vlogger from Minneapolis. Or at least he was until last week when he was abruptly fired from his job at KARE-11 for calling out a gang of angry, far-right, anti-lockdown protesters on Facebook.
39-year-old Sundgaard, who is one of highest profile LGBTQ people in the Twin Cities, was let go from his job of 14 years after he shared a post on Facebook from Michael Adam Latz, a rabbi from Minneapolis, who called the protesters “white nationalist Nazi sympathizer gun fetishist miscreants.”
The dissidents had congregated outside Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s residence on April 17 at the urging of Donald Trump, who tweeted to “Liberate Minnesota” earlier in the day.
LIBERATE MINNESOTA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
One protester in particular carried a large sign with an image of Gov. Walz wearing Hitler mustache and the word “Fuhrer” written over his head.
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Guy waving the Christian, American, and a Trump flag in front on the Capitol while holding a rifle. @MPRnews pic.twitter.com/aGT9v4q9nl
— Evan Frost (@efrostee) May 2, 2020
Sundgaard shared Latz’s post but deleted it a short while later. But not before a group of right-wing activists saw it and, of course, demanded he be fired from his job.
Then last Friday, KARE-TV announced it was bending to the anti-lockdown protestors demands and letting its beloved weatherman go “due to continued violations of KARE11’s news ethics and other policies.”
“Due to continued violations of KARE11’s news ethics and other policies, we have made the decision to part ways with Sven Sundgaard,” the station said in a statement. “We hope you continue to turn to KARE 11 for your news, traffic, weather and more.”
Due to continued violations of KARE11’s news ethics and other policies, we have made the decision to part ways with Sven…
Posted by KARE 11 on Friday, May 1, 2020
Unfortunately for the network, its decision to abandon one of its most beloved personalities and a faithful employee of 14 years has not gone over well with many of its viewers.
“I am on the side of science and Sven,” one person commented. “Due to the poor ethics of KARE 11, I have decided to part ways with KARE 11.”
“Sven was part of the reason I watched Kare11,” another said, “so I’ll just choose another network for my news.”
“Sad that a weatherman is held to a higher standard than our current president,” a third person wrote.
On Tuesday, Sundgaard made his first public remarks since his dismissal.
“Hello everyone, I see you, I hear you, I love you all!” he wrote in a Facebook post. “I first want to thank those who have supported and followed me throughout my time at KARE 11. And, I am especially grateful to those who have sent supportive and kind messages over the last several days.”
He went on to say that he “disagrees” with why he was fired and is “considering my options at this time.”
Hello everyone, I see you, I hear you, I love you all! I first want to thank those who have supported and followed me…
Posted by Sven Sundgaard on Tuesday, May 5, 2020
We’re definitely going to continue following this story and will keep you abreast with any updates. In the meantime, here are some pics from Sven’s Instagram page to tide you over…
Related: Kansas City weatherman comes out as a hot, gay muscle daddy
Mister P
What a tragedy for the voice of reason to be fired.
What a hunk!
Jared MacBride
Firing seems like an awfully strong reaction to that “offense.”
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Firing someone for speaking the truth is something Hitler would have done…..
cruzerdad
Hitler? Hell … Trump does it ALL the time!
Chrisk
Kare obviously has a protester sympathizer in control. These “protesters” all have white nationalists among them.
Sharing that tweet was just exposing reality. Isn’t that want we want from a news person?
Gadfeal
Ridiculous. The station owners must have been physically threatened; what a state our country has become – bullying, religious ignorance having influence on a secular democracy, disinformation disguised as “free speech”. I hope Sven finds another job, not necessarily as a weatherman, but, like David Letterman, as a host on either a travel, wildlife or even talk show format.
He’s cute and has a cute “husband”. He also looks incredibly boyish for a 39 year old but I suspect he had some eye surgery; if you compare his most recent videos with those taken 10 years ago, he seems to have taken on Asiatic eyes. Why?
jayceecook
@Gadfeal I don’t this man personally so I can’t verify if he has or hasn’t had any cosmetic surgery done. However I can offer you my take based on a similar personal experience with my eyes.
Sven has, like I do, hooded eyes. His appear to be more extreme than mine though. His also appear to be downturned and slightly deep set. This is what causes a more almond shaped eye (ignoring your subtle racism) that looks smaller or “squinty”. Think Renée Zellweger pre 2014. Or Brad Pitt. Or Ian Somerhalder, George Clooney, or Chris Hemsworth. Zac Efron is a good example of somebody with downturned eyes. Sometimes this is what people would consider “bedroom eyes”.
Back to Sven. Hooded eyes feature an extra layer of skin that droops over the crease, causing the lid to appear smaller. As you age your skin looses it’s elasticity. So that extra skin will start to droop more and more. I’ve noticed this with my own eyes. I’m also Sven’s age btw. I have more prominent eyebrows. More Daniel Levy than Eugene Levy. Over the years my eyebrows have slowly moved down closer to my eyes as that extra layer of skin has started to sag. This has also made my eyes appear smaller than they used to be. Though as I said not as severe as with Sven.
Now there is a surgical procedure called Blepharoplasty that can remove some of that extra skin, muscle, and fat from the lids. This will make your eyes appear more open and less baggy. I highly, highly doubt Sven has had this procedure. Or any eye cosmetic surgery. He has many natural eye folds, wrinkles, and the topic at hand, aging hooded eyes. It’s more likely you’re trying to make an issue out of something that isn’t necessarily there.
Cam
Wealthy media executives want to keep their Republican tax giveaways. Obviously the station executives are right wing, anti-science folks. Hopefully the backlash comes back to haunt some of these executives.
Daggerman
..what a fatso. Certainly not my type. Come on Queerty I’m going out of my mind with this lock-down. Can’t you put some beautiful young man on your page???? And what disgusting queens you get saying what a lovely guy???? The last comment sounds too desperate.
Cam
Translation: The right wing troll account desperately trying to deflect from the fact that an employee was fired for pointing out that people protesting with Nazi flags were Nazis.
We get it, right wingers support Nazis
WillParkinson
You’re a horrid person, ya know?
Hdtex
Daggerman eats urinal cakes for fun and profit.
xanadude
Fat? LOL! That’s all muscle! I’ve seen it in person.
paul dorian lord fredine
fatso? i don’t think that word means what you think it does. let’s see you put up a photo of yourself to see how you compare.
jsmu
@Daggerman Gee, buddy, how does Pooty Poot Poot’s fecal matter taste? And his cloaca?
leebuffy69
Im guessing you are a supermodel, right ? NO you are just a sad #wanker
ScottOnEarth
You are ridiculous.
nitejonboy
Covid was created for pieces of excrement like you, do us all a favor and go grocery shopping without a mask, or visit a hospital…
chazzro39
Daggerperson: what a silly, vapid, nonsensical comment. How gives a rat’s eyelash whether or not he’s not your type. You missed the whole point of the controversy by making some silly-ass dickhead douchebag comments about people. Every heard of the argument ad populum? Probably not. Poor baby. Get over yourself.
Daggerman
….no the comment before…
Hdtex
Daggerman is human garbage
dmhandy
Its had to believe a TV station is going to get rid of a beloved weatherman because of uneducated morons!
sonic_source
When a door closes, a window opens. Something tells me his contract will soon be picked up by a station with a higher profile than St. Paul, Minnesota. His firing is most likely a blessing in disguise.
MinnesotaNotNice
I highly doubt Sundgaard will be headed to a bigger market. He was quite overrated. The fact that he was fired for multiple infractions of TEGNA policies will cast a cloud over him if he goes looking for another gig. There are many other meteorologists here in the Twin Cities who should be in bigger markets.
xanadude
Total raw deal and big mistake for KARE-11. Sven is the most popular weather person in Minneapolis. This is just another example of ultra-sensitivity, but on the wrong side of it. I would expect this from a FOX station, but not normally-sane KARE. At least no one has made it about him being gay–which is garbage because they have other openly gay staff. I just hope the stigma of being “fired”–no matter how wrongly so–won’t hurt his career opportunities.
MinnesotaNotNice
Sven is the most popular weather person? Hardly so!
banditboy
Sven was not just fired for that offense. It was the last straw in a series of offenses. Also, KARE 11 has a written policy that forbids their on-air talent from expressing political opinions publicly. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from the repercussions of that speech. He got what he deserved, so instead of reacting with your dicks, react with your brains.
jsmu
@banditboy Citations, *sshole? ‘Last straw’ according to the N*zi station which caved to the N*zi thugs? Which cited no specifics? Also, all media outlets have those policies, you effing MORON; they are only EVER enforced when human beings express ‘political opinions publicly.’ IOKIYAR, as usual. You’re a pathetic P*tatroll and really need to up the game, sweetiepie.
ShiningSex
Apparently banditboy is a Trump c*cksucker. So sit down. We don’t need to hear from racist, ignorant people like you.
Cam
Except you’re lying.
Notice how the troll account claims that there were other offenses, but can’t name what they are.
jayceecook
While I don’t agree with the OP’s comment I feel I should point out the obvious point of contention some of you are missing. You’re saying he can’t cite his sources.
Well if you read Queerty’s post it’s right there from KARE 11…
“Due to continued violations of KARE11’s news ethics and other policies, we have made the decision to part ways with Sven Sundgaard.
We hope you continue to turn to KARE 11 for your news, traffic, weather and more.”
Now I have no clue what those “continued violations” are that KARE 11 is referring to. I clicked on the FB post to try and go through the over 2.7 THOUSAND comments and replies to see if there was any further information. That was an utter mistake. If there was ever a time to heed the “Never read the comments.” warning that was it. The amount of Trump Thumpers comments there caused me to actually loose brain cells. I could hear them pop into oblivion.
Needless to say I couldn’t find anything else on those alleged “continued violations”. Maybe they are there buried somewhere in that shite post but I couldn’t take it anymore. So while banditboy is technically correct, unless he and/or KARE 11 want to detail what those other things are that Sven did we’re left to play a guessing game.
The only thing I could come up with was that Sven has been reposting similar FB and Twitter posts on his personal SM accounts during the pandemic. Unfortunately that *does* go against KARE 11’s policies. Which is sad because it takes away people’s right to a private life away from work. However Sven had to have been aware of that clause in his contract.
The good thing is he is now getting national attention and the news station is receiving backlash from viewers. So all in all it probably was a shrewd career move on his part. I wouldn’t be surprised if bigger companies try to snatch him up. The offers are probably rolling in as we speak.
Cam
@jayceecook
My issue is that he’s presenting that as fact but can’t list any of them. It’s easy for the station to lie and claim there were multiple violations, but they provided no proof, and that other account is stating it as fact. If you’re going to use that, then he should be able to list them.
Roy Ajax
Cam
Once again you are unhinged. The FACT is that the station said it was a series of offences. They’re under no obligation to tell you, a nobody, what those offences were. That’s between the station and this guy. It’s always a joke when you demand FACTS because you never provide them or when someone does reply to you with facts, you disregard them and just spew the same old “troll” nonsense. Please find a life outside of your parents basement, lose some weight and get your GED.
Cam
@Roy Ajax
In other words, the right wing Troll account will ALWAYS defend bigoted attacks on LGBTQ people and is now attacking me to deflect attention away from the fact that the station fired him and sided with Nazi protesters.
You aren’t slick.
fur_hunter
I just hope that everyone remembers ALL the things that have happened, actions NOT taken and all the lies told when they go to the polls in November. If the Orange MORON is re-elected, the country is in deep S HIT!!!!
crdelavega89104
I live under the impression that the United States of America recognizes freedom of expression and opinion
nunya
Except when you’re a high profile figure and your comments may adversely affect your employer. If you want to be a provocateur, Be smart; use a pseudonym and don’t plaster your face all over the internet, but I guess narcissist can’t resist.
jayceecook
That would be an incorrect impression. Most Americans don’t realize that we actually have limited “freedom of expression and opinion”.
That fact has only been highlighted by the rise of social media and outrage culture. While it is not as bad as other countries, I believe Americans need to wake up and understand that now more than ever we have to monitor what we say and do.
Because sadly there could always be somebody lurking around the corner waiting to “expose” or “cancel” you. Big Brother isn’t the government, it’s your neighbors, coworkers, and the lady behind you at the grocery store with the “Can I speak to the manager” haircut.
Cam
Freedom of speech means you can’t be arrested for speaking against the government.
HOWEVER, in this case, if he sues the station may have to prove that his comment damaged them. If they get enough backlash they may either back down or cut him a big check.
edwardnvirginia
Ignorant comments abound. The Constitution and it liberties – that countless LGBTQ+++ and other soldiers, sailors, marines, air force, coast guard, immigration services, firefighters, law enforcement, criminal and civil justice, etc – folks have LITERALLY DIED for – protects the speech of demonstrators (within Constitutional bounds). That includes hateful words, hateful images, and other mean spiritedness (so long as not proposing direct violence to individuals – like saying ‘go get Tom, Jamal or Sally’ – or directly threatening public safety – ‘ like shouting ‘fire’ in a crowded theater’). The Constitution protects speech in public discourse. It does not protect speech at the same high degree of liberty in private employment. And of course all the idiotic commenters here know that; for example a GAY employer can FIRE someone who goes around – in the workplace – calling people ‘n word’ or ‘f word’ or ‘c word’. Now some GAY employers allow all sorts of HATE SPEECH – including ‘ n word’ or ‘f word’ or ‘c word’! WHERE does that happen you might day? Because – of course since you are all politically correct, ‘wokety’ progressive, you know that you MUST NEVER EVER SAY – or even think – the ‘n word’, ‘f word’, or ‘c word’. Well Drag Performers do it ALL the time, don’t they. And you pay money to hear it and to laugh at it. WHAT a bunch of hypocrites, wouldn’t you say, if you were actually honest?
ShiningSex
Those protestors are just racist morons. They’re not patriots. They’re fake Americans. America is not about hurting others that are different than you. Trumptards are all about stomping out people who are not white heterosexual “christians”.
Maybe they should read what’s on th Statue of Liberty or our Declaration and actually see what America is all about.
missyp
Yes!!!Couldn’t have said it better myself!!!
Kangol2
I agree with Sven, and I do not feel that he should have been fired. I also find those racist astroturfed “freedom” wannabes particularly toxic, because it’s clear they’re less concerned with their own healthy and safety and that of others, and more than anything serving as plants to confuse people and bolster the electoral fortunes of Don the Con the Tangerine Tyrantt, the worst president in US history.
That said, I hate to break it to you, but your statement that “America is not about hurting others that are different than you” is pure fantasy. Even the most casual skimming of an objective US history book would show you the exact opposite, which is that “America”–by which I presume you mean the US–is basically one continual story of hurting “others that are different than you,” beginning with the British colonialists’ wars against the Indigenous people (Native Americans), chattel slavery (200+ years of it!), westward colonization, wars against and invasions of and supporting coups in North and South American neighbors (Mexico, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Grenada, etc.), brutal racial segregation (100+ years of it), lynchings, redlining, forced sterilizations, forcibly expelling 1 million Mexicans and Mexican Americans, interning Japanese Americans, banning the immigration of non-White people, etc. The US is the only country to have dropped nuclear bombs on another country; the US has toppled democratically elected governments (and undemocratic ones) all over the globe, etc. And let’s not even get into how LGBTQ people have been treated. You do know that in colonial America, people convicted of sodomy were put to death, right? Just saying.
Sister Bertha Bedderthanyu
I wonder if those Nazi sympathizers are aware that were it not for a gay man, Ernst Rohm, Hitler would have never existed. Yes, you jackbooted ignoramuses whom carry assault rifles slung over your shoulders while wearing Nazi insignia in a state capital building here in the good ol’ US of A, your idol would have made it without him. Were I governor of that state I would have said the hell with the law and locked each and every one of your rear ends up for making a mockery of the right to open carry. That protest went overboard and only a fool would argue otherwise.
Bystolicmanboy
As a popular person on a local news station he should have know better. I agree with his feelings but the wrong way to express them.
MinnesotaNotNice
Pretty stupid on Sundgaard’s part to wade into this with his own comments, even if he posted multiple disclaimers and so on. People in high profile, public positions are going to be scrutinized far more so. Play with fire and you will eventually get burned, as he did. Just stay off social media!
MarkLeger
So I guess if you work there you don’t get a private life. When not at work we should be able to express your political side or whatever you want. I really hope he sue the station and put them out of business
batesmotel
As he should be. The lock down is excessive and they have the right to freely protest in the same way you all were protesting about nonsense over the election that changed nothing.
Cam
Funny how you didn’t mention then that by your words, he should have the right to criticize them.
Or do you only support people who carry Confederate and Nazi flags?
nunya
Cancel culture comes home to roost. Lol The shoe pinches just as bad on the other foot.
Cam
Except this isn’t “Cancel Culture” This is Republicans angry that they were called out for being Nazis and the media executives that agree with them.
sjosephs
Cleveland lost its beloved gay weatherman to his town. We can use you in Cleveland.
nitejonboy
Hope he sues them for all they’ve got, and once he gets his job back and makes millions, I’m gonna head up there and explore ” Big Sven and Little Sven “, to borrow a Golden Girls reference.
Gary Q VV
Obviously NBC KARE 11 has been wanting to fire Sven because he’s Gay. The affiliate’s owner, or whomever, couldn’t wait until the opportunity arose to demonize him and boot him out the door – that’s the truth, and many of our LGBTQ community have experienced that same dam thing. Sven should move on and expect to succeed at other endeavors. And, oh Sven baby, you can be my weather-MAN (and yes, guys, I know he’s married).
woodroad34
Well, he’s certainly adorable looking. Is there a boy friend?–I can’t imagine him not having one. As for NBC: when I was working there, they weren’t particularly gay-friendly despite Will&Grace or Frasier–in fact, from a friend in the Legal Dept. there were several lawsuits for discrimination (this is in California).
nm4047
A ‘news’ show that isn’t a Fox news, which I believe is the major source of most American’s news. Any source of news other than the Trump publicity machine of Fox would have been a damn good story for this network to show some sort of backbone and just promoted the hell out of this guy.
timbea
Due to Kare 11 continued lack of ethic and other policies . I have made the decision to part ways with your station. Not just the news , there are many other ways to get what programs your station carries, elsewhere …streaming etc
TxCudlr
THIS IS FREAKING UNREAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HOPE TO GOD HE SUES THAT TV STATION & MANAGING COMPANY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what the HELL ever happened to FREE SPEECH????????????????? & after being there for 14 years & NOW suddenly he is committing continued violations & news ethics????????????????????????? IF THIS IDIOT, LOW LIFE, PATHETIC TV STATION IS PANDERING TO THOSE PUNK, SELF CENTERED, SELF RIGHTEOUS THUGS, THEN “THAT” TELLS U THE STANCE OF THAT TV STATION & WHO “THEY” VALUE MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
rbernard
The separation was unjust and the weatherman should get himself a fine attorney to advise his next steps…
rocknstan
What the Trump is happening to once left-leaning (“progressive,” if you like) Minneapolis?!
The talking heads of TV news are supposed to be passive and view-less.
If they incite anger in you, you are less likely to consume.
The mantra of capitalism has always been “profit over people.”
Of course the Trump rabble are going to demand blood.
GayEGO
Sven should sue KARE for their discrimination of his free speech!