Shortly after being let go from Fox 2, Faust aplogized by posting a statement on Twitter: “I am very sorry. I made a huge mistake and I’m ashamed.â€
While hosting a radio show last week, unleashed an off-air tirade of foul language, sexist remarks and personal insults directed at a female colleague.
Faust used profanity at least 40 times in a roughly four-minute rant that berated co-host Crystal Cooper for, among other things, her weight and her parenting skills.
Faust’s off-air comments were digitally recorded and sent anonymously to the Post-Dispatch about 5 p.m. Friday.
On Monday, Faust confirmed that the confrontation took place.
“Well, it is,†Faust said, when told the audio clip was profane. He said there was “background†to the story but declined to comment further.
The outburst occurred last Tuesday morning on , a hard-rock station known as “The Viper.†It came near the end of the 8-10 a.m. morning drive show, “The Edge,†that Faust regularly hosts on weekdays with other personalities.
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Faust has been a main news anchor at KTVI (Channel 2), the local Fox affiliate, since 2015. He co-hosts the 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. weekday shifts with Mandy Murphey and Jasmine Huda.
Faust was not on the air for the 5 p.m. newscast; Murphey was paired with reporter Mike Colombo.
Fox 2 general manager Kurt Krueger and news director Audrey Prywitch did not respond to several voicemail messages.
The spark for Faust’s harangue seems to have occurred in the closing minutes of Tuesday’s radio show, which can be as a podcast. The station now has taken down its Facebook posting of the show.
The video shows Faust and Cooper engaging in an uncomfortable exchange after Faust had become irked by Cooper’s criticism of his computer skills, something that had come up on a previous show.
As the show heads toward a final commercial break at about 9:50 a.m., the on-air exchange becomes more pointed: Faust calls Cooper a “liar†and says she was “stupid†for bringing up a “dumb†topic.
The confrontation quickly escalated off-air. Faust begins using foul language and tells Cooper several times to “shut the (expletive) up†and “shut your (expletive) mouth.â€
He calls her “fat,†“stupid†and “nasty,†and repeatedly refers to her by using a curse word most commonly directed at women. Then at one point, Faust says “you’re nothing†and “you’re trash.â€
When talking of her broadcasting skills, Faust says, “You’re a (expletive) mom, you don’t even know the topics we’re talking about. You’re just stupid.â€
Faust also told Cooper that he had previously complained to Blevins about her on-air performance.
He even upbraids Cooper for where she attended high school. After calling her “self-righteous,†Faust said, “You think you’re special because you went to Villa (Duchesne).â€
On a more threatening note, Faust tells Cooper to not come back to the show, a position Faust says he arranged for her.
“If you come back, I’m going to be in your (expletive) every (expletive) day,†Faust said, who adds that he will “call you a (expletive) every day.â€
When Cooper replies that Faust is not her boss and that she plans to return to the show, Faust says: “Then I will nail your (expletives) ... I will do whatever I (expletive) need to do to you.â€
Then as the off-air confrontation winds down as the show prepares to go back on the air to close out the show, Faust says to Cooper, “Your kids have a (expletive) terrible mom. I feel sorry for them.â€
At that remark, Cooper replied, “Wow. Wow.â€
Only once in the off-air exchange, about halfway through, did Cooper direct profanity at Faust, saying he should “chill the (expletive) out†because he was “acting like an immature (expletive).â€
Cooper could not be reached for comment. notes that she began working at the station in May and quit Sept. 13, the day of the confrontation with Faust.
Also taking part in the Tuesday show were Eric Johnson and Brendan Shanahan. At one point in the off-air confrontation, one of those co-hosts can be heard saying “don’t be like that, guys.†Later, another co-host says, “Vic, Vic, Vic, Vic ... stop, stop.â€
The podcast of Tuesday’s show was the last one posted online; and on Monday, the morning-drive slot was exclusively music programming.
Radio station general manager Chris Blevins could not be reached for comment. Sales manager Brian Richardson said Faust’s show was not on the air “at the moment†and referred further questions to Blevins.
The radio station, which plays hard rock music, is licensed out of Troy, Missouri; its studios are located in Lake Saint Louis. It no longer is affiliated with an AM sports-talk station with the same call letters.
Faust graduated in 1991 from Althoff Catholic in Belleville. He attended the University of Missouri on an athletic scholarship and played tight end for the football Tigers.
After graduating, he started his broadcasting career in sports with the Missouri Tiger Radio Network. He began in television in 1998 and covered sports and news in St. Joseph and Columbia, Missouri; Tulsa; and Detroit.
In April 2015, he left a Detroit television station after 11 years to join KTVI and replace the retiring Tom O’Neal.
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This is the YouTube post of the Tuesday show of “The Edge,†which features Faust and Cooper. Their on-air confrontation begins at about the 1:48:00 mark of the clip.