Tomi Lahren has reached a settlement with the Glenn Beck and his media company TheBlaze over their bitter legal squabble in a very busy day for media industry news.
In early April, Lahren filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Beck and TheBlaze after she was yanked off the air, even though she was collecting her full salary. On April 17, Beck and company filed a countersuit for breach of contract against her, alleging that she engaged in unprofessional diva-like behavior that led to her suspension.
Lahren, 24, famously and abruptly lost her TheBlaze TV gig, called Tomi, when she revealed her pro-choice leanings on The View, which created a firestorm. Apparently, this is a flip-flop from her earlier pro-life pronouncements and which evidently led to her ban from the Beck channel.
“I’m for limited government, so stay out of my guns, and you can stay out of my body as well,” Lahren told The View ladies on March 17, suggesting that pro-lifers are hypocrites. Previously, she deemed pro-choicers as “straight-up baby killers.” Beck shortly thereafter suspended production on her show on an indefinite basis.
Tomi Lahren agrees to delete Facebook videos, many with millions of views, in settlement with Glenn Beck https://t.co/SoEbbLc5tj pic.twitter.com/6CoMCJ5sKb
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) May 2, 2017
The feisty conservative commentator apparently more-or-less argued that the attempt to muzzle or silence her was equivalent to a firing in violation of her contract. In an interview on ABC Nightline , Lahren described her job as her life, and that without it, she felt lost.
Beck’s countersuit claimed that the media network was relying on a “pay or play” clause in the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, graduate’s TheBlaze contract which allows the channel to stop airing Tomi’s show and keep her from appearing on any network as long as the checks continue to clear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiaAqI_MzIM
“Lahren often clashed with her former coworkers at The Blaze and would yell and scream at lower-level employees, sources with direct knowledge previously told [ The Daily Caller ]. Among other things, the 24-year-old staffer forced employees to heat up a butt warming pad in the microwave before every show, those sources said,” The Daily Calle r claimed .
Although most of the details remain confidential, the settlement reached by the parties allows Lahren to job hunt for another media platform immediately rather than wait until the September 30 contract expiration, the Dallas Morning News reported . In addition to the contract release, Tomi Lahren also retakes control of her Facebook page with its four million-plus followers, which was a major bone of contention, although she apparently will have to delete videos posted there that she produced during her TheBlaze tenure, many of which received millions of hits.
She posted a Facebook video today thanking her fans for their support.
https://www.facebook.com/TomiLahren/videos/1310479662378551/
“Ms. Lahren is relieved to have this litigation behind her. She looks forward to connecting with her audience and fan base on the pressing political issues facing our country in the days to come. Ms. Lahren will have no further comment at this time,” her attorney explained in a statement according to Variety .
In its own statement, Beck’s company said that “ TheBlaze is pleased to announce that the relationship with Tomi Lahren has concluded, Ms. Lahren will continue to have access to her social media accounts as has always been the case.”
Beck himself was due to testify in court on Thursday about the legal action, but now that won’t be necessary.
A South Dakota native, the former One America News Network anchor essentially became an overnight sensation in July 2015, when a video of her calling out President Obama for lack of leadership in fighting terrorism following the Chattanooga murder of four U.S. Marines and one U.S. Navy sailor went viral.
Lahren’s two-year employment agreement that went into effect on September 1, 2015, required her to host 230, one-hour TV shows and produce regular digital commentaries for TheBlaz e website. The contract included a non-compete clause, which presumably was waived as part of today’s out-of-court settlement.
Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze network has reportedly lost a significant amount of market share and traffic to its web portal once Beck went full-on #NeverTrump. Tomi Lahren is a President Trump supporter.
Now that Tomi Lahren has resolved her legal dispute with Glenn Beck and TheBlaze , where do you think she will land to continue her media career?
[Featured Image by Colin Young-Wolff/Invision/AP Images]