Former talk show host Doc Washburn was a guest on Westwood's One syndicated Dan Bongino Show Friday afternoon. Bongino, who currently is tussling with parent company Cumulus Media over its vaccine mandate, returned to his radio show Wednesday.
The return ended 8-days of 'Best of.." show following his public admission of opposing a mandate issued by CEO Mary Berner. Bongino has been vaccinated, but doesn't agree with the company-wide mandate.
On Friday's show Washburn told Bondgino that Berner issued the mandate because "she was angry with people who were not vaccinated,” Berner mandate stated all staffer mustbe fully vaccinated by October 11. "If you're not, you're terminated,” according to Washburn.
In her mandate, issued to staffers in a memo August 11th Berner stated:
“The decision to return to our offices was made with utmost consideration and reflects how we believe we can optimize our business efforts. 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 excepted. It would neither be fair nor do we have the bandwidth to make exceptions based on individual preferences.”
Washburn told Bongino he sent a letter to Berner “explaining how, in my humble opinion, this is illegal.” Washburn said he then applied for a religious exemption and also asked if it was possible for him to continue to broadcast the show from home, saying that other staff in the cluster “were treating unvaccinated people like second-class citizens, why not just allow me to keep doing it from home? You know, so I don’t have to deal with a hostile workplace every day.”
He said he was denied a religious exemption and the topic of working from home was never addressed.
A handful of other radio groups have have also issued vaccine mandates, including Beasley Media Group, Urban One, and Univision Communications.
No comments:
Post a Comment