Mancow Muller
Encyclopedia
Matthew Erich "Mancow" Muller (born 21 June 1966) is an American
radio and television personality. He is best known for Mancow's Morning Madhouse
, formerly on Rock 103.5 and WKQX-FM (Q101), both Chicago-based radio shows that have been nationally syndicated mostly in small markets by Talk Radio Network
. Muller's career with Q101 was ended in July 2006, when Marv Nyren, Vice President and General Manager of Emmis Radio, in Chicago, announced, "We’ve decided that the time has come for us to develop a morning show that will better serve the needs and sensibilities of this audience. On 22 October 2008, WLS-AM in Chicago announced that Muller would join that station as a weekday radio talk show
host, in the 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. time slot, beginning on 27 October 2008. Muller continued to host his nationally syndicated morning radio program. However Robert Feder
reported that Muller was fired on February 10, 2010. Muller hosted a Sunday night show on WABC-AM from September 2010 until October 2011, when he was let go following Cumulus Media
's acquisition of WABC-AM parent Citadel Broadcasting
.
, playing commercials during the Larry King
satellite feed. His role gradually expanded until he got his own afternoon show.
Among Muller's fans was the general manager of KLSI-FM in Kansas City, who offered him a full-time job as head of station promotions. Muller accepted the position, plus a weekend air shift, while completing his final semester at Central Missouri State University
(now known as the University of Central Missouri).
in Monterey, California
, Muller headed north to San Francisco. In 1993, Muller made national headlines working for radio station 107.7 KYLD-FM in San Francisco, California
, when a story was circulating that President Bill Clinton
tied up traffic on an LAX runway for over an hour getting a haircut on Air Force One
. Muller staged a parody of the incident on the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge during rush hour. He used vans to block the westbound lanes on the bridge while his then sidekick, Jesus "Chuy" Gomez, got a haircut.
As a result of this publicity stunt, Muller was prosecuted and subsequently convicted of a felony by a San Francisco Municipal Court. His sentence included three years probation, a $500 fine and 100 hours of community service. The radio station eventually paid $1.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by a bridge commuter.
which debuted in July 1994.
Originally, he broadcasted from WRCX-FM (Rock 103.5) studios in the John Hancock Center
and in 1998, moved to the city's alternative rock
station, WKQX-FM (Q-101) 101.1
, where the show was broadcast from the Merchandise Mart
for eight more years.
Within two Arbitron
ratings periods he took the station's 19th-ranked morning show to #5 among all teens and adults, and #1 among 18-to-34 year olds.
Muller's "Mancow's Morning Madhouse" ended its live run on Emmis' Alternative outlet in Spring 2006, and had the highest rated audience in Chicago with Men Ages 25 to 54 (among English speaking stations). According to Arbitron, a radio ratings service, Mancow's show, measured in Average Quarter Hour listening percentages (AQH) had a 5.7 Share. The next closest station was all-news WBBM with a 5.3 Share.
In his target demographic, men between the ages of 18 and 34 years, Mancow AQH was an 11.8 Share of the audience in that age group, the highest Share of any other English-speaking station in Chicago.
His show, however, was not without controversy. In 1999, Janet Dahl, the wife of Chicago talk radio host Steve Dahl
, filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Muller over lewd comments Muller made about her on his show. In 2001, the case was settled out of court. Although the terms of the deal were not disclosed, it reportedly reached seven figures.
After Wes Borland
left Limp Bizkit, Fred Durst
was to be a judge in a Guitar Center
competition allegedly to find the next guitarist for the band. Hundreds of people showed up to audition. Durst showed up late for the event, gave everybody in attendance the middle finger
, then promptly left. In response, Muller posted a photo on his website of Durst flipping off the guitarist competition audience and began periodic on-the-air anti-Durst rants.
For a full week leading up to Limp Bizkit
's Summer Sanitarium 2003 concert in Chicago, Muller continually mock
ed Durst on his radio show and invited listeners to attend the concert with anti-Durst placards. When Muller's fans complied by showing up with the placards, openly taunting the singer, booing him and pelting him with refuse, Durst erupted into a profanity-laced homophobic tirade and left the stage only 17 minutes into the show. Durst was eventually sued for breach of contract (for not completing the show) by Chicago lawyer Michael Young in a class-action suit.
When it was announced in late 2008 that Mancow, along with Pat Cassidy, would take over the 9-11 a.m. slot at WLS-AM, it was of the general opinion of Chicago print media that the show would quickly falter. The reality was however quite the opposite, as just four months after the debut of Mancow and Cassidy, Arbitron ratings had the show at #1 in the 12+ audience, and nearly doubling Chicago competitors in the male demographic as of February 2009.
Muller was fired from his job on news and conservative talk station WLS-AM after only 16 months.
, the company that owns radio stations on which Mancow's Morning Madhouse was broadcast, have had numerous run-ins with the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) for broadcasting offensive or obscene material. In particular, in 1999 David Edward Smith, the then-Executive Director of the Illinois
-based Citizens for Community Values, began filing complaints with the FCC. While the first several of these complaints were initially dismissed by the FCC for lack of context, eventually the FCC began levying fines on Emmis largely as a result of persistent efforts thereto from anti-obscenity commissioners Gloria Tristani
and Bush
appointee Michael Copps
. By June 2002, various media sources reported that Emmis had paid $42,000 in fines for FCC violations on Muller's program.
Smith continued to file complaints about the content of Muller's show. In 2004, Muller filed a suit against Smith, claiming that Smith was violating his First Amendment
rights to free speech. A federal judge declared this suit to be, "frivolous and insubtantial," and as a result Muller dropped the suit on August 3, 2004. Shortly thereafter Emmis Communications announced it had reached a, "consent decree
," with FCC, agreeing to pay $300,000 and to admit that the Mancow program had at times violated FCC regulations. In the meantime, Smith had petitioned FCC to deny the renewal of Emmis station licenses, including one for a station, WIBC-AM in Indianapolis, that did not broadcast Muller's program which was unsuccessful.
accident and critically injured. Ray died shortly after his life support was terminated on 11 January 2006. Muller offered a $13,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the driver, but was unsuccessful. The hit-and-run case of Cowboy Ray was featured on Fox
's America's Most Wanted
television show on February 25, 2006. , the driver responsible had still not been found.
's Fox & Friends
where he referred to Democratic National Committee
chairman Howard Dean
as "vile," "bloodthirsty" and "evil." Muller also commented on Dean's negative opinions on the War in Iraq
, calling Dean a traitor who "ought to be kicked out of America" and "tried for treason."
On May 22, 2009, Muller had himself waterboarded
during his radio program on WLS-AM, having lost a listener poll determining whether he or co-host Pat Cassidy would be the one waterboarded. The talk show host had previously claimed that calling waterboarding "torture" was wrong, something he had stated that he hoped his reenactment would prove. Lasting only 6 seconds ("8 seconds less than the average person", according to program guest Marine Sergeant Klay South), Mancow afterward changed his opinion, saying, "It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that's no joke", and described waterboarding as "absolutely torture".
Questions were later raised about the validity of the procedure. South had no formal training in waterboarding and had never before performed the procedure, leading the online celebrity and gossip site Gawker
to accuse Muller of faking the whole thing. Muller later stated in an interview on Countdown with Keith Olbermann
, "I admit it, it was a stupid radio stunt. But waterboarding, all it is, is water in your nose and mouth with your head back." Further adding "We went into this thinking it was going to be a joke. But it was not a joke — it was horrible. 'Hoax' is probably not the right word, but we did think it was going to be a joke."
. Since February 14, 2003, Muller has been married to Sandy Ferrando, a former publicist
. He also has twin daughters named Ava Grace and Isabella Sofia Muller.
On 24 February 2009, Muller appeared on the Trinity Broadcasting Network
Praise the Lord to talk about his Christian faith.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
radio and television personality. He is best known for Mancow's Morning Madhouse
Mancow's Morning Madhouse
Mancow’s Morning Madhouse is an American radio show hosted by Erich “Mancow” Muller. The show is broadcast to a number of markets of mainly FM radio stations throughout the United States....
, formerly on Rock 103.5 and WKQX-FM (Q101), both Chicago-based radio shows that have been nationally syndicated mostly in small markets by Talk Radio Network
Talk Radio Network
Talk Radio Network is an American radio network providing talk radio programming, with an emphasis on conservative talk on weekdays and variety/general interest talk radio on weekends. Some of the most recognizable personalities in American radio, such as Laura Ingraham and Michael Savage, are...
. Muller's career with Q101 was ended in July 2006, when Marv Nyren, Vice President and General Manager of Emmis Radio, in Chicago, announced, "We’ve decided that the time has come for us to develop a morning show that will better serve the needs and sensibilities of this audience. On 22 October 2008, WLS-AM in Chicago announced that Muller would join that station as a weekday radio talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
host, in the 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. time slot, beginning on 27 October 2008. Muller continued to host his nationally syndicated morning radio program. However Robert Feder
Robert Feder
Robert Feder is a noted Chicago media blogger who was the TV and radio columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1980 until 2008 and a blogger for Vocalo.org from 2009 until 2010...
reported that Muller was fired on February 10, 2010. Muller hosted a Sunday night show on WABC-AM from September 2010 until October 2011, when he was let go following Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media, Inc. is the second largest Owner and Operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States, behind Clear Channel Communications, operating 570 stations in 150 markets as of September 16, 2011. The company also owns Cumulus Media Networks...
's acquisition of WABC-AM parent Citadel Broadcasting
Citadel Broadcasting
Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the country...
.
Radio career beginnings
Thanks to Muller's radio mentors, Kevin T. Muller, Marion Woods and Kendra Utterback, Mancow's radio career began at KOKO-AM (a one-kilowatt AM radio station), in Warrensburg, MissouriWarrensburg, Missouri
Warrensburg is a city in Johnson County, Missouri, United States. The population was 16,340 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Johnson County. The Warrensburg Micropolitan Statistical Area consists of Johnson County. It is home to the University of Central Missouri.-History:Warrensburg...
, playing commercials during the Larry King
Larry King
Lawrence Harvey "Larry" King is an American television and radio host whose work has been recognized with awards including two Peabodys and ten Cable ACE Awards....
satellite feed. His role gradually expanded until he got his own afternoon show.
Among Muller's fans was the general manager of KLSI-FM in Kansas City, who offered him a full-time job as head of station promotions. Muller accepted the position, plus a weekend air shift, while completing his final semester at Central Missouri State University
University of Central Missouri
The University of Central Missouri is a four-year public institution in Warrensburg, Missouri.- History :...
(now known as the University of Central Missouri).
Pre-Chicago notoriety
After a stint at KDONKDON
KDON-FM is a Rhythmic Top 40 station licensed to Salinas, California. They are owned by Clear Channel Communications .-History:...
in Monterey, California
Monterey, California
The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...
, Muller headed north to San Francisco. In 1993, Muller made national headlines working for radio station 107.7 KYLD-FM in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, when a story was circulating that President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
tied up traffic on an LAX runway for over an hour getting a haircut on Air Force One
Air Force One
Air Force One is the official air traffic control call sign of any United States Air Force aircraft carrying the President of the United States. In common parlance the term refers to those Air Force aircraft whose primary mission is to transport the president; however, any U.S. Air Force aircraft...
. Muller staged a parody of the incident on the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge during rush hour. He used vans to block the westbound lanes on the bridge while his then sidekick, Jesus "Chuy" Gomez, got a haircut.
As a result of this publicity stunt, Muller was prosecuted and subsequently convicted of a felony by a San Francisco Municipal Court. His sentence included three years probation, a $500 fine and 100 hours of community service. The radio station eventually paid $1.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by a bridge commuter.
Mancow's Morning Madhouse
Muller accepted a job offer by Evergreen Media President Jim de Castro at more than double his salary if he would be willing to move to Chicago to work at WWBZ-FM, "The Blaze". "The Blaze" had lost its fire and it was renamed to "Rock 103.5" (WRCX-FM), and created his radio show, Mancow's Morning MadhouseMancow's Morning Madhouse
Mancow’s Morning Madhouse is an American radio show hosted by Erich “Mancow” Muller. The show is broadcast to a number of markets of mainly FM radio stations throughout the United States....
which debuted in July 1994.
Originally, he broadcasted from WRCX-FM (Rock 103.5) studios in the John Hancock Center
John Hancock Center
John Hancock Center at 875 North Michigan Avenue in the Streeterville area of Chicago, Illinois, is a 100-story, 1,127-foot tall skyscraper, constructed under the supervision of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, with chief designer Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Khan...
and in 1998, moved to the city's alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
station, WKQX-FM (Q-101) 101.1
Q101
The Q101 name is used by the following radio stations:* KQDJ-FM, Valley City, North Dakota* WWWN, formerly WKQX, a former alternative rock station in Chicago, Illinois* WMYQ, Ft. Wayne/Warsaw, IN * WAMS-FM, Snow Hill, Maryland...
, where the show was broadcast from the Merchandise Mart
Merchandise Mart
When opened in 1930, the Merchandise Mart or the Merch Mart, located in the Near North Side, Chicago, Illinois, was the largest building in the world with of floor space. Previously owned by the Marshall Field family, the Mart centralized Chicago's wholesale goods business by consolidating vendors...
for eight more years.
Within two Arbitron
Arbitron
Arbitron is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with L.A. based Coffin, Cooper and Clay in the early 1950s...
ratings periods he took the station's 19th-ranked morning show to #5 among all teens and adults, and #1 among 18-to-34 year olds.
Muller's "Mancow's Morning Madhouse" ended its live run on Emmis' Alternative outlet in Spring 2006, and had the highest rated audience in Chicago with Men Ages 25 to 54 (among English speaking stations). According to Arbitron, a radio ratings service, Mancow's show, measured in Average Quarter Hour listening percentages (AQH) had a 5.7 Share. The next closest station was all-news WBBM with a 5.3 Share.
In his target demographic, men between the ages of 18 and 34 years, Mancow AQH was an 11.8 Share of the audience in that age group, the highest Share of any other English-speaking station in Chicago.
His show, however, was not without controversy. In 1999, Janet Dahl, the wife of Chicago talk radio host Steve Dahl
Steve Dahl
Steven Robert Dahl has been an American radio personality and humorist for more than thirty years. He is currently podcasting, and releases the podcasts for download daily from his own website as well as the iTunes store...
, filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Muller over lewd comments Muller made about her on his show. In 2001, the case was settled out of court. Although the terms of the deal were not disclosed, it reportedly reached seven figures.
After Wes Borland
Wes Borland
Wesley Louden Borland is an American musician and artist, best known as the guitarist for the band Limp Bizkit. He has been in several other bands as well including: Black Light Burns, The Damning Well, Goatslayer, Big Dumb Face, and Combichrist...
left Limp Bizkit, Fred Durst
Fred Durst
William Frederick "Fred" Durst is an American musician, director, producer and actor, well known as the frontman of the band Limp Bizkit.-Early life:...
was to be a judge in a Guitar Center
Guitar Center
Guitar Center is the largest chain of musical instrument retailers in the world with 223 locations throughout the United States. Its headquarters is in Westlake Village, California....
competition allegedly to find the next guitarist for the band. Hundreds of people showed up to audition. Durst showed up late for the event, gave everybody in attendance the middle finger
Middle finger
The middle finger or long finger is the third digit of the human hand, located between the index finger and the ring finger. It is usually the longest finger...
, then promptly left. In response, Muller posted a photo on his website of Durst flipping off the guitarist competition audience and began periodic on-the-air anti-Durst rants.
For a full week leading up to Limp Bizkit
Limp Bizkit
Limp Bizkit is an American rock band from Jacksonville, Florida. Formed in 1995, the group's lineup consists of Fred Durst , Wes Borland , Sam Rivers , John Otto and DJ Lethal . The band achieved mainstream success with their second studio album Significant Other, released in 1999...
's Summer Sanitarium 2003 concert in Chicago, Muller continually mock
Mock
Mock may refer to:* In geography: Mock, California, in Inyo County* In programming: Virtual mock or Mock object, simulated objects that mimics the behavior of real objects in controlled ways* In mathematics: Mock modular form, mathematical function...
ed Durst on his radio show and invited listeners to attend the concert with anti-Durst placards. When Muller's fans complied by showing up with the placards, openly taunting the singer, booing him and pelting him with refuse, Durst erupted into a profanity-laced homophobic tirade and left the stage only 17 minutes into the show. Durst was eventually sued for breach of contract (for not completing the show) by Chicago lawyer Michael Young in a class-action suit.
When it was announced in late 2008 that Mancow, along with Pat Cassidy, would take over the 9-11 a.m. slot at WLS-AM, it was of the general opinion of Chicago print media that the show would quickly falter. The reality was however quite the opposite, as just four months after the debut of Mancow and Cassidy, Arbitron ratings had the show at #1 in the 12+ audience, and nearly doubling Chicago competitors in the male demographic as of February 2009.
Muller was fired from his job on news and conservative talk station WLS-AM after only 16 months.
Mancow and the FCC
Muller and Emmis CommunicationsEmmis Communications
Emmis Communications is a media conglomerate based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The company owns radio stations and magazines in the United States, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria.-History:...
, the company that owns radio stations on which Mancow's Morning Madhouse was broadcast, have had numerous run-ins with the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) for broadcasting offensive or obscene material. In particular, in 1999 David Edward Smith, the then-Executive Director of the Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
-based Citizens for Community Values, began filing complaints with the FCC. While the first several of these complaints were initially dismissed by the FCC for lack of context, eventually the FCC began levying fines on Emmis largely as a result of persistent efforts thereto from anti-obscenity commissioners Gloria Tristani
Gloria Tristani
Gloria Tristani served from 1997 to 2001 as the first Hispanic woman member of the Federal Communications Commission . Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, she is married to Judge Gerard W. Thomson and is the mother of Vanesa and Jorge. A graduate of Barnard College, she obtained her Juris...
and Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
appointee Michael Copps
Michael Copps
Michael Joseph Copps is a Commissioner on the U.S. Federal Communications Commission , an independent agency of the United States government. He has served as one of the commissioners of the FCC since May 31, 2001, and took on the additional role of acting chairman on January 20, 2009...
. By June 2002, various media sources reported that Emmis had paid $42,000 in fines for FCC violations on Muller's program.
Smith continued to file complaints about the content of Muller's show. In 2004, Muller filed a suit against Smith, claiming that Smith was violating his First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
rights to free speech. A federal judge declared this suit to be, "frivolous and insubtantial," and as a result Muller dropped the suit on August 3, 2004. Shortly thereafter Emmis Communications announced it had reached a, "consent decree
Consent decree
A consent decree is a final, binding judicial decree or judgment memorializing a voluntary agreement between parties to a suit in return for withdrawal of a criminal charge or an end to a civil litigation...
," with FCC, agreeing to pay $300,000 and to admit that the Mancow program had at times violated FCC regulations. In the meantime, Smith had petitioned FCC to deny the renewal of Emmis station licenses, including one for a station, WIBC-AM in Indianapolis, that did not broadcast Muller's program which was unsuccessful.
Cowboy Ray
On November 20, 2005, Ray Hofstatter, aka, "Cowboy Ray," a 45-year-old mentally challenged frequent caller, guest on Mancow's Morning Madhouse was struck by a car in a hit-and-runHit and run (vehicular)
Hit-and-run is the act of causing a traffic accident , and failing to stop and identify oneself afterwards...
accident and critically injured. Ray died shortly after his life support was terminated on 11 January 2006. Muller offered a $13,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the driver, but was unsuccessful. The hit-and-run case of Cowboy Ray was featured on Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
's America's Most Wanted
America's Most Wanted
America's Most Wanted is an American television program produced by 20th Television, and was the longest-running program of any kind in the history of the Fox Television Network until it was announced on May 16, 2011 that the series was canceled after twenty-three years, with the final episode...
television show on February 25, 2006. , the driver responsible had still not been found.
Politics
On December 6, 2005, Muller made an appearance on Fox News ChannelFox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
's Fox & Friends
Fox & Friends
Fox & Friends is an American morning television show on the Fox News Channel.-History:The show begins at 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time with the latest Fox News Live headlines and analyzes the news of the morning...
where he referred to Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
chairman Howard Dean
Howard Dean
Howard Brush Dean III is an American politician and physician from Vermont. He served six terms as the 79th Governor of Vermont and ran unsuccessfully for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. Although his U.S...
as "vile," "bloodthirsty" and "evil." Muller also commented on Dean's negative opinions on the War in Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
, calling Dean a traitor who "ought to be kicked out of America" and "tried for treason."
On May 22, 2009, Muller had himself waterboarded
Waterboarding
Waterboarding is a form of torture in which water is poured over the face of an immobilized captive, thus causing the individual to experience the sensation of drowning...
during his radio program on WLS-AM, having lost a listener poll determining whether he or co-host Pat Cassidy would be the one waterboarded. The talk show host had previously claimed that calling waterboarding "torture" was wrong, something he had stated that he hoped his reenactment would prove. Lasting only 6 seconds ("8 seconds less than the average person", according to program guest Marine Sergeant Klay South), Mancow afterward changed his opinion, saying, "It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that's no joke", and described waterboarding as "absolutely torture".
Questions were later raised about the validity of the procedure. South had no formal training in waterboarding and had never before performed the procedure, leading the online celebrity and gossip site Gawker
Gawker.com
Gawker is a newsmagazine/blog based in New York City that bills itself as "the source for daily Manhattan media news and gossip" and focuses on celebrities and the media industry....
to accuse Muller of faking the whole thing. Muller later stated in an interview on Countdown with Keith Olbermann
Countdown with Keith Olbermann
Countdown with Keith Olbermann is an hour-long weeknight news and political commentary program that airs on Current TV, where it began airing on June 20, 2011. The program was broadcast on MSNBC from March 31, 2003, to January 21, 2011. On MSNBC, the show presented five selected news stories of...
, "I admit it, it was a stupid radio stunt. But waterboarding, all it is, is water in your nose and mouth with your head back." Further adding "We went into this thinking it was going to be a joke. But it was not a joke — it was horrible. 'Hoax' is probably not the right word, but we did think it was going to be a joke."
Personal life
Muller was born in Kansas City, MissouriKansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
. Since February 14, 2003, Muller has been married to Sandy Ferrando, a former publicist
Publicist
A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a public figure, especially a celebrity, a business, or for a work such as a book, film or album...
. He also has twin daughters named Ava Grace and Isabella Sofia Muller.
On 24 February 2009, Muller appeared on the Trinity Broadcasting Network
Trinity Broadcasting Network
The Trinity Broadcasting Network is a major American Christian television network. TBN is based in Costa Mesa, California, with auxiliary studio facilities in Irving, Texas; Hendersonville, Tennessee; Gadsden, Alabama; Decatur, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Orlando, Florida; and New...
Praise the Lord to talk about his Christian faith.
Television
| Title | Role | Episode | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Night Stand Night Stand with Dick Dietrick Night Stand with Dick Dietrick was an American television comedy show that satirizes American tabloid talk shows such as The Jerry Springer Show and The Jenny Jones Show. The series was originally broadcast in first-run syndication from 1995 to 1997, as well as on the E! Entertainment Television... |
Himself | "Eurotrash" | 1996 episode |
| Party of Five Party of Five Party of Five is an American teen drama television series that aired on Fox for six seasons, from September 12, 1994, until May 3, 2000.Critically acclaimed, the show suffered from low ratings and after its first season was slated for cancellation... |
Bartender | "Fragile" | 1999 episode |
| Early Edition Early Edition Early Edition is an American television series that aired on CBS from September 28, 1996 to May 27, 2000. Set in the city of Chicago, Illinois, it follows the adventures of a man who mysteriously receives each Chicago Sun-Times newspaper the day before it is actually published, and who uses this... |
Randy, Car Salesman | "Home Groan" | 1999 episode |
| The Shield The Shield The Shield is an American television drama series starring Michael Chiklis which premiered on March 12, 2002 on FX in the United States and concluded on November 25, 2008 after seven seasons... |
Arrestee | "Hurt" | 2005 episode |
| Sons Of Anarchy Sons of Anarchy Sons of Anarchy is an American television drama series created by Kurt Sutter about the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club operating in Charming, a fictional town in Northern California... |
Nomad | "Na Triobloidi" | 2009 episode |
| The Chicago Code | Himself (voice) | "Cabrini Green" | 2011 episode |
| Himself (voice) | "Wild Onions" | 2011 episode | |
| Himself | "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" | 2011 episode |