Insiders: Dan Bongino, Westwood One Feud "An Ugly Fight"

Conservative TV and radio host Dan Bongino's standoff with Cumulus Media over the broadcast giant's vaccine mandate continued Wednesday with The Dan Bongino Show's third straight absence from the airwaves, reports The Washington Examiner.

Bongino said Tuesday and Wednesday on his podcast, which is separate from his live radio show, that the negotiations were turning "ugly" after he issued Cumulus Media an ultimatum earlier this month that it could either have his show or its vaccine mandate. Reruns of his show have been aired in his slot instead of a live show this entire week.

Westwood One reportedly is telling affiliates, “Dan has not taken significant time off since launching the show and is taking a well-deserved vacation.” However, Bongino, who continues to do his daily podcast, didn’t sound like he was on vacation, reports InsideRadio.

“The fight with them is having a real impact. Behind the scenes it’s getting a little ugly here,” he said on Tuesday’s podcast episode. “I wasn’t on the radio today. I don’t know what they did, played the ‘best of’ or whatever.”

“It is unfortunately an ugly fight, I wish it weren’t,” Bongino said as he re-hashed the developments with his employer on Wednesday’s podcast. “Some of the people who were fired by Cumulus whose stories are piling in, they are really disturbing. I hear you… I read one of the emails yesterday and I’m going to get to more of them as time goes on.”

"Behind the scenes, it's getting a little ugly here," he said Tuesday. "I wasn't on the radio today or yesterday. But you don’t treat people this way."

He reiterated Wednesday that "it's unfortunately an ugly fight. I wish it weren't. But some of the people who have been fired from Cumulus, their stories are piling in, and they're pretty disturbing," referring to an email he read the previous day from an employee allegedly fired from the company for not complying with the mandate. The employee claimed Cumulus rejected his religious exemption within a day.

"This fight's been wearing me down but not wearing me out," Bongino said, adding he'd learned not to choose business partners who "treat people poorly and just have poor character."

The former Secret Service agent turned commentator is opposed to vaccination mandates on the grounds of bodily autonomy, although he himself is vaccinated.

“Cumulus is going to have to make a decision with me—if they want to continue this partnership or they don’t,” Bongino told listeners in a recent program. “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.”

Bongino’s show with Westwood One debuted in May and is being distributed to more than 300 stations, according to the company. He holds the time slot previously occupied by the late Rush Limbaugh.