Chicago Columnist in Hot Water for Tweets Reportedly Lives in SLP

The Chicago Sun-Times columnist in hot water for a series of sexist tweets apparently lives in St. Louis Park, according to a City Pages report.

Joe Cowley has been placed on "final notice"—one step away from being fired—according to TimeOut Chicago. On Sunday, while waiting for a plane to depart, Cowley tweeted that there was a "chick pilot" and asked if he should "be OK with that or am I just a sexist caveman?"

He also engaged in a back-and-forth with a female sportswriter, Sloane Martin, via Twitter, encouraging her to "hottie up" her profile picture and telling her "...the chick pilot did good ... even though she had to come back and ask for directions twice."

Cowley has since deleted his Twitter account—at his editor's demand, TimeOut Chicago reports—but a number of media outlets have saved the tweets.

St. Louis Park Patch found a Joe Cowley listed as a St. Louis Park resident. A phone call to that number has not been returned. An email to Cowley's Sun-Times account also has gone unanswered.

TimeOut Chicago had the following statement from Sun-Times editor-in-chief Jim Kirk:

“The Chicago Sun-Times is an institution with important social responsibilities, and we expect those who represent our paper to act with the respect and sensitivity that our readers deserve. Mr. Cowley's remarks were offensive and he has been reprimanded appropriately.”