HOWARD Stern has fired at least 50 employees – two thirds of his entire staff – over two waves of layoffs.
The U.S. Sun spoke to multiple insiders who confirmed the Howard Stern Show’s operations have been quietly gutted after the marquee star proclaimed he had re-signed with SiriusXM back in December.
During the renewal announcement, Stern appeared to suggest that in staying on the air, he would be saving people’s jobs.
“I think people generally working here are just hoping I stay, because, look, this is people’s livelihoods,” the 72-year-old multi-millionaire said.
“There’s a bunch of technical folks and production people and our social media people, we have a pretty big organization to put on this mess, and I appreciate every single one of them. I don’t even know how to say it, and everyone is just so talented.”
“I think it’s the greatest staff ever in terms of entertainment,” the iconic host gushed.
Despite the high praise and seeming reassurance by the show’s fearless leader, there were layoffs less than two months later on February 12, insiders claimed.
That source said the February layoffs went unnoticed by fans, as most of the employees were based behind the camera.
“They let all these people go, and it was like, ‘Nothing to see here,’ since none of the people were on the air,” the source pointed out.
Another insider said that the number of employees who were let go during the February layoffs was staggering.
“At least 40 people were let go,” the insider claimed.
That insider added that it was disheartening to see so many people let go in February, just two months after being lulled into what they believed was a sense of job security following Stern’s announcement about his contract renewal, and the host’s glowing comments about his staff.
Then, on July 13, the second insider claimed at least 16 people were laid off – including on-air talent Memet Walker, Benjy Bronk, Jonathan Blitt, Mike Trainor and Rahsaan Rogers.
While many people who were laid did sign an NDA when they began working for the show, the source also confirmed confidential documents were attached to their severance packages.
“The exit NDA basically said you can talk about the show, but you can’t say anything negative about it, or you would lose your severance.”
Some staff were able to negotiate from the initial exit package offered, but not everyone had luck with SiriusXM‘s HR.
“HR was trying to get employees to sign the NDA and take the check as quickly as possible. You’re suddenly unemployed, so it makes it very hard to negotiate,” the source explained.
According to several sources who previously spoke to The U.S. Sun, a lot of the laid-off staffers refused their initial severance offers, which amounted to just about one week of pay for every year they worked.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/16804527/howard-stern-fired-radio-show-staffers-two-layoffs/