A third of workers at Crooked Media, a liberal media outlet founded by members of former President Barack Obama’s White House staff, have left the company since 2023 amidst internal struggles, according to a Bloomberg report.
The company, started in 2017 by former Obama staffers Tommy Vietor, Jon Lovett and Jon Favreau, has been mired in internal struggles over their coverage of the war in Gaza, alleged union-busting tactics and potentially unsavory workplace behavior, according to the Bloomberg report.
NEW: Inside the staff rebellion at Crooked Media, the progressive media org behind Pod Save America.
Among the issues dividing staff: the war in Gaza. A founder dating an employee. The union filing a complaint over union busting claims.
A third of staff have left since Jan ’23 pic.twitter.com/lhYhu1jhVt
— Ashley Carman (@ashleyrcarman) August 1, 2024
Young staffers appeared to view their professedly left-wing bosses as increasingly out of touch, particularly when it came to the war in Gaza. “Some people said the hosts weren’t empathetic enough toward Palestinian suffering, or understanding of pro-Palestine protestors,” Bloomberg reported.
Staffers reportedly placed links to pro-Palestinian coverage in the company group chat for their bosses to see and wore keffiyehs, a traditional Palestinian garb, to work to draw attention to the cause.
The division even forced one producer to quit after someone accused the producer of uttering a slur while discussing pro-Palestinian student protesters. An internal review found the producer innocent of any wrongdoing, but the producer still quit “rather than endure the highly-charged workplace culture,” according to Bloomberg.
Staff also apparently took issue with the lavish lifestyles of some of the founders. Lovett apparently bought a $10 million house in Los Angeles in 2023 after Crooked Media reached a $150 million ad-sales deal with SXM Media and secured an investment from George Soros‘ company, Bloomberg reported.
Crooked Media also faced unfair workplace accusations, prompting them to initiate an agreement to join the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) in 2023. But they’ve yet to reach an agreement with the Guild, according to Bloomberg. (RELATED: ‘So F*cking Awful’: Ex-Obama Aides Have Total Meltdown After Biden’s ‘Disaster’ Debate)
The Guild filed an unfair labor practice charge against Crooked Media on July 29, accusing them of union-busting.
“It’s a shame when a progressive company like Crooked Media fails to live up to its own values and attempts to union-bust,” WGAE President Lisa Takeuchi Cullen said, according to Bloomberg. “The Guild fully expects Crooked Media to stop playing politics with its workers’ livelihoods and settle this first contract without delay,” she concluded.
Other reported gripes included long hours, difficulties earning promotions and a lack of clarity on defined roles, accoridng to Bloomberg. One founder in particular, Jon Lovett, faced excise scrutiny for taking a month off in the middle of election season to participate in the game show “Survivor” while his employees worked 12 hour days, according to Bloomberg.
Lovett also faced criticism after an employee who earned three promotions in two years ended up being very close to him personally. “The person spoke openly to colleagues about having a close friendship with co-founder Lovett and talked about staying at his home to dog-sit,” Bloomberg reported.
The employee and Lovett ended up disclosing to human resources that they were dating, however, Bloomberg reported the relationship began “about a year after the employee’s last promotion.”
“Pod Save America” recently made headlines after former Obama White House communications director, Dan Pfeiffer, lashed out at Joe Biden’s then-campaign for accusing him and a fellow co-host about being “operatives” for the Obama.
“I find this situation very personally uncomfortable because we know all the people who work on those campaigns. They are friends of ours. It’s more infuriating because it explains why they have fucked up the response to this debate so bad. Because it’s not about Joe Biden. Is it not. Everything is now about Joe Biden. It’s ‘people are mad at him. They don’t get him. Me me me me me me me.’ And it’s about this election, which Joe Biden has said himself is the most important election of our time, that democracy is at stake. And we can have a good faith disagreement without doing this.”
Pfeiffer added it is “fucking insane” for the campaign to be fighting their podcast, Obama and other Democrats at a time when they are struggling politically. Favreau said the Biden campaign was pushing false narratives about them for their own benefit.
