Politics
Reuters/Chris Keane
Glenn Beck speaks during the National Rifle Association's 139th annual meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina on May 15, 2010.
TheBlaze and its founder, Glenn Beck, are countersuing the network's former star, Tomi Lahren, after she filed a lawsuit against them on grounds of wrongful termination, though the company disputes terminating her and says she continues to be paid.
Lahren's original lawsuit said that she was terminated for expressing pro-choice views at a March 17 appearance on ABC's "The View." During her interview, Lahren said she could not "sit here and be a hypocrite and say I'm for limited government, but I think the government should decide what women do with their bodies."
Lahren's lawsuit alleged that as a result of her comments, she was contacted by TheBlaze's human resources department and informed that she would be suspended indefinitely "all because of her pro-choice opinions expressed on The View." The suit also said that the company continued to pay her after informing her that her "services were no longer needed."
The countersuit from Beck and TheBlaze was filed on the grounds that Lahren breached her employment contract by making public statements that reflected negatively on the network. It claimed that it never terminated Lahren, stating that the company "relied on the industry standard 'pay of play' provision in her contract" which allowed the company to cease broadcasting Lahren's show while continuing to pay her. The suit also disputed Lahren's claims that her email account was terminated and that TheBlaze had blocked access to her Facebook page.
"TheBlaze never had access to Lahren's personal social media accounts and has taken no action to block her from using them - as can be demonstrated by her continuous Twitter stream and Instagram posts," the countersuit said.
Moreover, it highlighted a litany of alleged workplace misconduct that the company said factored into its decision not to broadcast her show anymore. That included allegations Lahren mistreated the floor crew, was heard complaining about TheBlaze and saying that she would take over the company, created conflicts with other media personalities at the network, and publicly "embarrassed" the company "because her statements were uninformed and inconsistent."
Her comments on The View, the suit said, "demonstrated an apparent flip-flop from opinions she had previously expressed ... [and] were simply the latest in a series of events that led TheBlaze management to conclude that TheBlaze did not intend to extend her contract beyond the end of its term in September 2017."
The countersuit outlined the plaintiff's request that Lahren be prohibited from "making any public appearances without TheBlaze's prior approval" and from "issuing any public statements or press releases" related to herself, her employment at the network, or anything involving the network and its employees without TheBlaze's prior approval. It also requested that she be barred from making any statements that could reflect negatively on her employer, and that she cover fees associated with filing the countersuit.