Chicago Radio: 'Mancow' Muller Sues New Boss For Emotional Distress

Erich “Mancow” Muller is so upset about his current employer hiring his former boss, longtime Chicago radio executive Marv Nyren, that he’s suing Nyren for emotional distress.

Muller, who presides over the “Mancow Morning Show” on WLUP 97.9 FM, filed a lawsuit Monday in Cook County Circuit Court alleging Nyren diminished his reputation after firing him more than a decade ago at a previous station, WKQX 101.1 FM, to discourage competitors from hiring him.

According to The Chicago Tribune, The lawsuit says Muller has “suffered both physically and emotionally” since Nyren was named market manager of Cumulus Media Chicago earlier this month, putting him in charge of four stations, including rockers WLUP and WKQX.

Marv Nyren

“It’s literally making him physically ill,” said Michael Young, a Westchester attorney representing Muller in the lawsuit. “He saw a medical professional last Thursday because of this. It’s absolutely very traumatizing to him to be in this position after everything he went through.”

Nyren, 58, whose first day at his new job with Cumulus was Monday, declined to comment on the lawsuit but expressed enthusiasm at being reunited with Muller.

“I’m thrilled to be working with Cumulus and Mancow,” Nyren said Tuesday. “He’s seeing some really great ratings, and I’m looking forward to working with him.”

Muller joined WLUP, known as “The Loop,” in March 2015 after several years on the fringes of — and at times entirely off — Chicago radio.

The lawsuit alleges Nyren fired Muller, then host of “Mancow’s Morning Madhouse,” from WKQX in July 2006 in retaliation for Muller having put an end to after-hours meetings with Nyren at locations outside the radio station.

Muller “was uncomfortable with the suggestive settings” and with Nyren’s “actions and mannerisms” during these meetings, the lawsuit says.

When Nyren fired Muller in a WKQX conference room, his “gestures, language, tone of voice and outright laughter” made it clear that it went beyond business to “personal retribution,” the lawsuit says.

Upon his termination, Muller was the subject of a profane on-air skit and a WKQX staff party celebrating his departure, while sales staff sent advertisers packages of “raw, spoiled rotten and bloody meat,” depicting him as a “dead cow” in an effort to sully his reputation, the lawsuit says.

Muller is also looking to keep his job at WLUP, his attorney said.