Racist, Abusive Son of Former Broncos Owner Offers to Buy Westword

Years after John Michael Bowlen missed out on taking control of the Denver Broncos, he’s setting his sights on another city institution: Westword.

The troubled son of Pat Bowlen — the late billionaire and former owner of the Broncos football team — shared a series of bizarre Instagram stories on Tuesday, February 17. The posts included declarations that he is “half Chinese now,” is “really considering becoming Jewish” and that “the pornhub your wife watches is dudes like me.”

Amid the mania, one post inquired about the price to purchase Westword. “Imma buy that bitch for fun,” Bowlen wrote over a screenshot of a bank balance showing $5.5 million in total assets. He alluded to accumulating the funds by selling marijuana to high schoolers.

“I just live off my own dime. Thanks to all the kids who bought my weed,” Bowlen’s post reads. “My dad knew didn’t care. This is my hard earned money from east, cherry creek and highlands ranch high school. My dad raised a gangster.”

Bowlen’s interest in purchasing Westword apparently stems from our coverage of his last social media tirade. In November 2024, Bowlen shared a video in which he repeatedly yelled “white power” and made disparaging remarks about Black people, including: “Fuck Black people. White is right. We’re back, bitches, and we’re saying that shit.”

“I will high five the girl that keeps talking shit about me it’s really funny to me she’s a ginger so l can’t imagine how she feels,” Bowlen posted on February 17, presumably referring to yours truly (who, for the record, is not ginger). “That girl at the @denverwestword wants me. She wants me in her.”

Sexually harassing a Westword reporter is on-brand for Bowlen.

He was arrested on domestic violence charges in 2015. Allegedly under the influence of alcohol and whippets, Bowlen told his then-girlfriend that he had killed someone, then shoved her against a wall when she called 911, police said at the time. When the 911 dispatcher called back, Bowlen apparently tried to use his Broncos connections to get out of the situation, falsely claiming to be the owner of the team.

“As the blood of the city, I’m telling you right now, nothing is wrong,” Bowlen told the dispatcher. “I’m a man of the city, a friend of the mayor, and everybody knows exactly who I am.”

At one point in time, he was considered a leading candidate to take over the team from his father. Pat Bowlen led the Broncos to seven Super Bowl appearances and three wins during his 35 years of ownership, culminating in his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2019. Pat died the same year, at the age of 75, following a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Bowlen was a marketing employee with the Broncos until his domestic violence arrest in 2015, at which point he was placed on an indefinite leave of absence.

In 2017, Bowlen made headlines again when he was arrested for driving under the influence in California. He had reportedly driven over 100 miles per hour and repeatedly told officers his father owned the Broncos after being pulled over, police said at the time.

These days, Bowlen apparently spends his days shit posting and blowing his allegedly ill-gotten gains.

But sorry, Bowlen, even if you still have some of those gains left over, Westword isn’t interested.