Who is Sam Kuffel? Age and all about the meteorologist fired reportedly for criticizing Elon Musk's alleged Nazi salute gesture 

A television weather forecaster named Sam Kuffel got fired by her employer CBS 58 on January 22, 2025. The move came reportedly after she criticized Elon Musk’s straight-arm gesture from Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, which has been likened by many on social media to a Nazi salute. Kuffel posted a picture of the Tesla CEO from the event on her personal Instagram account on January 21, captioned:

“Dude Nazi saluted twice. TWICE. During the inauguration. You f*ck with this and this man, I don’t f*ck with you. Full stop.”

Meanwhile, a staff memo written by the channel’s news director Jessie Garcia, and obtained by the Journal Sentinel on Wednesday, read:

"Meteorologist Sam Kuffel is no longer employed at CBS58. A search for a replacement is underway."

Staffers at Channel 58, or WDJT-TV, were sent an email notification on Wednesday, informing them of Sam’s termination. Her image and bio had also been removed from the station’s website. A Weigel Broadcasting Co. spokesperson confirmed the same but refused to provide any detail, as per Journal Sentinel.

Sam Kuffel’s full name is Samantha Kuffel and she is a 31-year-old meteorologist who joined CBS 58 over five years ago.

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More about Sam Kuffel in the wake of her termination

According to her LinkedIn profile, Sam Kuffel hails from Wausau-Stevens Point Area in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She joined WDJT-TV/ CBS 58 in December 2019. Before that, she was employed at WAOW-TV (Channel 9) from June 2016 to November 2019.

Sam Kuffel graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2016 with a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology. The 31-year-old was also a local weather forecaster with the sports radio station WRNW-FM (97.3).

Apart from the already mentioned post calling out Elon Musk, Sam Kuffel shared a follow-up post on the platform which comprised a GIF from the sitcom It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia where Rob McElhenney’s character Mac said, "Screw that old b*tch. He's a Nazi."

No sooner had her posts garnered traction than Sam faced backlash from the public as well as her colleagues. For instance, conservative radio host Dan O’Donnell slammed her posts as “vulgar” and accused her of "spreading the lie that Elon Musk was giving a Nazi salute,” during his on-air appearance at 1030 WISN station.

Dan O'Donnell calls out Kuffel for her Musk criticism. (Image via X)

By late Tuesday, Kuffel made her Instagram account private. Meanwhile, on the same day, Sam’s X post was quoted in a CNN article titled, “Local TV meteorologists deliver tearful farewell as stations replace staff with The Weather Channel feed.” In the context of mass layoffs of meteorologists across the USA, she wrote:

"Local meteorologists are essential to local news. Communities will suffer during major, local weather events because of this decision."

Sam Kuffel was not the only one to criticize Elon Musk’s hand salute gesture. Author Ruth Ben-Ghiat took to X and wrote:

“Historian of fascism here. That was a Nazi salute – and a very belligerent one too.”

Likewise, the Anti-Defamation League referred to it as an “awkward gesture.” While most conservatives refuted that Musk gestured a Nazi salute, MAGA commentator Evan Kilgore wrote on the platform, “Did Elon Musk just Heil Hitler at the Trump Inauguration Rally,” adding in a follow-up post, “We are so back.”

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The SpaceX CEO hasn’t openly denied the theories circulating online. However, he hit back at those suggesting he made a Sieg Heil salute.