SAN DIEGO _ A host joining the San Diego Padres' flagship radio station this week generated outrage on social media with a promotional tweet viewed by many as insensitive to suicide.
Kevin Klein, set to begin a new show Thursday on 97.3 FM, sent out a tweet with a photo of the Coronado bridge and the text "JUMP(ASTERISK) ... (ASTERISK)to a new morning show."
The response on Twitter was swift, with some users asking Klein to delete the tweet (he refused), while others criticized him for its inappropriateness.
Still others called on the Padres to address the matter, some suggesting the organization find a new radio station. The team opens the season Thursday against the Milwaukee Brewers at Petco Park.
A comment from the Padres was not immediately available. The station's hosts are not involved with Padres games or pregame/postgame programming, although club employees could be guests on their shows.
Six hours after the original tweet, two other tweets were sent out with the same text but different photos _ one of a local beach scene and the other an overhead coastal shot of the Torrey Pines Golf Course.
At least one Twitter user suggested it was an attempt to deflect attention from the original tweet by making it appear this was intended to be a series of promos with various San Diego locales. The context was much different with the other photos, however.
There were other Twitter users who commended Klein for stirring things up in San Diego even before he has gone on the air.
At one point in the evening, Klein tweeted: "This is gonna be fun ... "
Klein's tweet came the same day as a front page story in the Union-Tribune about the unveiling of Coronado bridge suicide prevention prototypes. According to the article, the Coronado bridge now is the second-deadliest bridge in the United States for suicides.
More than 400 people have jumped to their deaths over the bridge's 50-year history. There have been 98 deaths in the past six years, with 18 of them coming in 2017.
The station, known as The Machine, already attracted some controversy by hiring former Mighty 1090 host Dan Sileo, who came to San Diego four years ago with a history of controversial statements and faced allegations of racism, sexism and anti-Semitism in prior workplaces.
Between 2012 and 2013, he was fired by three Florida radio stations, once for remarks he made on air and twice for things he tweeted. He landed with The Mighty 1090, the Padres' former flagship station, in early 2014.
"I've stepped on my(self) so many times in this business," Sileo told the Union-Tribune in an interview that year. "But I also think that's what makes me somebody that people want to tune in to. That wonder of, what will he say next? Will he get fired for something today?"
Earlier this year the Padres said Sileo would not be involved with their broadcasts.
