{"id":248244,"date":"2026-07-21T04:25:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T04:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/248244\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T04:25:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T04:25:41","slug":"pittsburgh-official-suspended-over-shocking-tasteless-instagram-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/248244\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh official suspended over shocking, tasteless Instagram video"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH \u2014 On Friday,\u00a0Allegheny County official Abigail Gardner posted a video on her personal Instagram account telling local journalist Colin Dunlap to take his own life. Gardner is the communications director for Allegheny County Executive Sara\u00a0Innamorato, the most powerful local elected official in the Pittsburgh<\/a> region, and appeared in the video wearing an Allegheny County Emergency Services polo.<\/p>\n

Dunlap, a KDKA radio personality, had commented on recent county warnings due to Canadian<\/a> wildfire smoke, saying, \u201cWe\u2019re all soft. We\u2019re overreacting. Our forefathers used to be outside in the mug and smoke a pack on top of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

To which Gardner\u2019s Instagram video responded, \u201cYou\u2019re right, Colin, you should go outside and smoke a pack on a bridge and then jump.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was not Dunlap\u2019s only comment on the wildfires. Earlier, he had said, \u201cDo what you want, don\u2019t do what you want. If you have a breathing problem, if you have apprehensions, if you feel like it\u2019s not safe for you, stay home. If you\u2019re A-OK with things, and you feel like, well, you know, we\u2019re all gonna die some day anyway, what\u2019s one day of walking around, getting a little smoke in my lungs, then go out and live your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not exactly controversial.<\/p>\n

Gardner confirmed to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that she recorded and posted the video to her personal Instagram account independently, without clearing the comments with Innamorato beforehand.<\/p>\n

On Monday afternoon, five days after the incident, Gardner posted a press release saying she made a tasteless comment and apologized for her lack of judgment. She also said she had been placed on administrative leave. Gardner did not apologize to Dunlap in the statement, nor did she say whether her leave was with or without pay.<\/p>\n

As of publication, the county administration has not announced any formal discipline or termination of Gardner. Its silence \u2014 and its failure to publicly repudiate her comments \u2014 raises questions about leadership within both the administration and the local party.<\/p>\n

To date, no local Democrat<\/a> has condemned her actions. In fact, some decided to encourage Gardner and reward her.<\/p>\n

J.J. Abbott, former Gov. Tom Wolf\u2019s press secretary, posted on X that Colin Dunlap was a notorious bully who was now opportunistically playing the victim.<\/p>\n

The widening divide between Allegheny County residents and the progressive political class running local government is visible not only in the Innamorato administration\u2019s policies but also in its officials\u2019 behavior on social media.<\/p>\n

County employees who reached out said they were stunned by the actions of a high-level official venting about a local broadcaster who questioned public health alerts about wildfire smoke. Watching her expose the raw, ugly contempt progressive<\/a> power holds for anyone who dares ask questions was just a daily reminder of what they face working in county government.<\/p>\n

For decades, southwestern Pennsylvania\u2019s political culture was defined by a measure of institutional grace: No matter how hard-fought the politics became, those working in the county courthouse ultimately respected both the community they served and the journalists who covered them.<\/p>\n

But politics has changed. The rise of a hyper-partisan, online-first political class has replaced the old-school labor and community coalition with something far more volatile.<\/p>\n

To voters in communities ranging from McKeesport to Hazelwood\u2019s emerging technology and manufacturing centers, the silence from Innamorato and other local elected officials speaks volumes. It suggests that the basic rules of human decency do not apply when the offender belongs to the right political team.<\/p>\n

If a standard county employee \u2014 say, a public works driver or an administrative clerk working the desk at the health department \u2014 had posted a public video telling a local resident to go jump off a bridge, their employment would have been terminated before sunset.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dunlap himself noted the glaring double standard, observing that a private citizen or media personality would face immediate, ruinous consequences for similar behavior.<\/p>\n

JD VANCE ON FAITH FATHERHOOD AND FORGIVENESS<\/a><\/p>\n

Dunlap said over the weekend he received a flood of emails from county employees livid over Gardner\u2019s suicide quip, and not just because of her directing it at him. A few months ago, an Allegheny County 911 telecommunicator died by suicide<\/a> directly outside the facility where they worked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The employee, a dispatcher assigned to the county\u2019s emergency communication network, took their own life in the staff parking lot of the Allegheny County Emergency Services building.<\/p>\n