Thousands of people in industries across the country are losing their jobs over vaccine mandates. In some cases, employee protests have paid off and employers have relented, giving testing options rather than following through on draconian ‘no jab, no job’ policies. Now, Dan Bongino is taking a stand at Cumulus Media.
In late May, the massively influential radio network Westwood One debuted a new daily talk show from Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and New York City cop who gained stature in conservative media during the presidency of Donald Trump. The show occupies the noon-3 p.m. time slot once dominated by Rush Limbaugh, setting Bongino up as one of the key challengers for his audience.
Within two months, the show had reached distribution on more than 300 stations, which the company described as “impressive growth.”
Now, Bongino is threatening to walk away completely. He has taken issue with a vaccination mandate imposed in August by Westwood One’s owner, Cumulus Media. (WaPo)
The company gave employees until Sept. 27 to be fully vaccinated and a number of radio hosts at the have been fired or quit for not wanting to get the jab for personal or medical reasons. Bongino, who is fully vaccinated, is taking a stand in solidarity with them.
“I’m not really happy with the company I work with right here,” Bongino said on his program Monday. “I believe these vaccine mandates are unethical. I believe they’re immoral. I believe they don’t take into account the science of natural immunity due to a prior infection. I believe they’re broad-based and don’t take into account an individual circumstances of why they may or may not want to take a vaccine. And they’re antithetical to everything I believe in.”
Bongino promised to not let the issue go.
"Cumulus is going to have to make a decision with me — if they want to continue this partnership or they don’t. But I’m talking to you on their airwaves," he continued. "They don’t have to let that happen. And I wouldn’t mind if they didn’t. Because it’s really unfortunate that people with a lower profile than me, who don’t have 300-plus stations, have been summarily either shown the door or been put in really untenable circumstances because they simply want to make a medical decision by themselves.”
He then gave the company an ultimatum.
“You can have me, or you can have a vaccine mandate, but you can’t have both,” Bongino said. “I grew up without a lot of money. … I’m not leaving those guys behind.”
“I have no intentions 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,” he added.