Media

Dan Bongino threatens to quit Cumulus radio show over company’s vaccine mandate

by Dominick Mastrangelo - 10/19/21 2:22 PM ET

Conservative pundit Dan Bongino is threatening to quit hosting his daily radio show over Cumulus Media’s coronavirus vaccine requirement for employees.

Bongino, who was vaccinated and is receiving treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, said on his show Monday he was announcing his opposition to the company’s vaccine policy publicly on behalf of others at the company “so you know I’m not letting it go.”

“But I promise you I have no intention of letting these guys get let go, get harassed because they made a private and personal medical decision on only one of the biggest issues of our time,” Bongino said of other employees at the company who do not have the massive following he has acquired on the radio network.

Westwood One airs Bongino’s show weekdays from noon to 3 p.m., the time slot previously occupied by the late giant of conservative media Rush Limbaugh, who died of cancer earlier this year.

“You can have me or the mandate. But you can’t have both of us,” Bongino said.

.@dbongino publicly calls out Cumulus, who carries his radio show on hundreds of stations, for issuing its own vaccine mandate.

“I’m not letting this go.”

Find your local station to listen LIVE: https://t.co/IK6DZpbTzJ

Or watch here: https://t.co/NaTE4NeVLy pic.twitter.com/7fAfJY9FoH

— Bongino Report (@BonginoReport) October 18, 2021

Westwood One’s parent company, Cumulus Media, in August informed employees it would require them to be vaccinated by the end of September in order to return to the office on Oct. 11.

“Exceptions to the return to office plan will not be considered except as legally required. The decision to return to our offices was made with utmost consideration and reflects how we believe we can optimize our business efforts,” the company reportedly said in a memo to its thousands of employees at the time. “Put simply, we believe that FORCE CUMULUS is at our best when we’re working together in offices. To do that as safely as we reasonably can, we’re requiring that everyone be vaccinated except those legally exempt. It would neither be fair nor do we have the bandwidth to make exceptions based on individual preferences.”

Bongino said on Monday employees of Cumulus like himself have “the right to make their own medical decisions” and the company has “the right to do what it wants as well.”

“But if the company is going to make political decisions, and I believe this was a political decision, then the company should at least recognize they are making a lot of money off people who have the opposite political persuasion,” he said.

Cumulus Media did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Bongino’s remarks. The company has already reportedly fired several employees, including some on-air hosts, for rebuffing the company’s vaccine requirements.

Tags Dan Bongino Radio in the United States Vaccination policy