Conservatives have long argued that they don’t want politics mixed in with their sports. However, the Trump Administration has recently started an all-out anti-immigration ad blitz on TV and radio stations nationwide, including sports talk stations.
In the Bay Area, local sports talk titan KNBR’s hosts and listeners have voiced their strong distaste for the ads for a few weeks.
The Department of Homeland Security announced February 17 that it would begin an advertising campaign “warning illegal aliens to leave our country now or face deportation.” The 60-second spot features Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem thanking President Donald Trump for “securing our border” and warning “lawbreakers” not to enter the country.
“President Trump has a clear message for those that are in our country illegally: Leave now,” Noem says in the ad. “If you don’t, we will find you and we will deport you. You will never return.”
According to The Associated Press, DHS invested $200 million in the media blitz, which has been ongoing since the second week of March. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, $30,000 of that went towards the Bay Area’s four biggest broadcast television stations.
The ad started appearing on KNBR’s “Dirty Work” afternoon show but went unmentioned until co-host Adam Copeland returned from vacation. When he returned and heard the ad, he vented about it during the first hour of the March 12 show.
“I’m pissed about that ad,” Copeland said, via SFGate. “Everybody should know that that stupid-ass racist Homeland Security ad that’s airing on KNBR has nothing to do with KNBR. It’s all from corporate. I’ve sent an email. We’re on top of it. If you’ve got stuff to say, call the ‘Whine Line.’ Email [program director Mike] Hohler. We’re on top of it. Nobody wants this on the air. This is an absolute load of B. Nobody wants any of this, dude.”
Copeland also threatened to speak over the commercials and told producer Tim Webb to alert listeners when the ads were coming so they could turn their radios off or change the channel.
“This is absolutely insane that we are airing these spots. Absolutely insane,” Copeland said. “I’m beside myself. The fact that we have to do these diversity and inclusion trainings here to work at KNBR and then they turn around and they take money from Homeland Security to air this crap, this is unbelievable. Unbelievable.
“I’m sure I’m going to get talked to about this and I could give a damn. It’s racist and it’s overtly, over the top, unbelievable that we’ve got to deal with this.”
The ads were mentioned on KNBR shows a few more times over the next few days. Listeners also started voicing their complaints to the station directly and via social media.
It’s a corporate thing and we’re all disgusted. We’ve openly and privately pushed back all week. No one at KNBR, even behind the scenes, is happy about it playing. It’s repugnant
— Adam Copeland (@Adamcopes) March 15, 2025
Alex Simons of SFGate spoke with Copeland on Thursday. The KNBR host said that listeners have been texting the station complaints about the ads every day since they first aired.
“Anybody who watches sports knows that, as a 35-year-old man, I’m only going to see the same types of ads — erectile dysfunction, beer, cars, gambling,” Copeland told Simon. “… [The DHS ad] seems out of place. They want to cover a wide range and hit everybody with this, obviously, but if we talked about this on air, if we had these topics on air, people would be like, ‘Why are you talking about this on a sports station?’”
Those hoping to get answers from KNBR will likely be disappointed, as parent company Cumulus decides which ads run on the station. Longtime KNBR host Brian Murphy told his listeners as much this past week.
“Just to readdress the whole freaking Homeland Security ad, you guys know the deal,” Murphy said, as co-host Markus Boucher raised his arm in disgust. “You guys know the deal that none of us has anything to do with that. It’s completely out of — in fact, it’s out of our market. It’s a national, corporate decision. So if you guys have complaints, take it to the national corporate guys.”
SFGate reached out to Cumulus for more information about the ads but did not receive a response.
