The media company founded by a former aide to President Barack Obama – and partially funded by George Soros – that produces the influential “Pod Save America” podcast has experienced internal turmoil between its progressive staff and moderate bosses, according to reports.
Tensions at Los Angeles-based Crooked Media have been fueled by staff disagreements over the war in Gaza, anger at a founder dating a promoted employee, grueling 12-hour work days, and resentment over disparity in pay and celebrity status. hosts, according to a report in Bloomberg News.
More than a dozen current and former employees of the company told the outlet that there is a split between progressive staff who look to the left of the mainstream Democratic Party and the founders and podcast hosts who are more toward the center.
Crooked Media has received tens of millions of dollars from pro-Democrat donors – including a charity founded by George Soros, who was given a board seat.
It was founded in 2017 by three former Obama staffers – speechwriters Jon Lovett and Jon Favreau and spokesman Tommy Vietor. Another former Obama aide, Dan Pfeiffer, joined the three as co-hosts of the “Pod Save America” podcast.
The podcast generated a mass audience of Democratic listeners during Trump’s presidency – allowing the company to expand its book publishing, live events and merchandising.
However, one recent skirmish between the staff and the management involved the hesitation of the “Pod Save America” host to criticize Israel through military operations after the terrorist attack of the leader of Hamas on October 7.
According to Bloomberg News, the labor faction is demanding a stronger pro-Palestinian stance from the company, including an open discussion of the number of casualties in Gaza as well as support for pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses.
Staffers tried to get management to change the tune on the Israel-Gaza war by posting links to news stories about the conflict on an internal Slack channel to make sure executives saw it, Bloomberg News reported.
Some Crooked employees put a watermelon emoji — which symbolizes support for the Palestinian people — next to their names in Slack while others wear keffiyehs, the traditional Palestinian head covering.
Management resisted pressure from staff to hold a company-wide discussion on the issue. Instead, he told employees to meet with supervisors in secret, according to Bloomberg News.
The Post has reached out to Crooked Media for comment.
Another issue boils down to the origin of Favreau’s newfound celebrity status and fame, according to reports, He has been regularly photo hobnobbing with celebrities such as Chrissy Teigen and John Legend.
Favreau also reportedly recently bought a $10 million home in the Los Angeles area — which has a rank of staff who consider it against progressive ideology, according to Bloomberg News.
Lovett is known to date staff who have been promoted at least three times in the past two years — a rapid rise through the ranks that has angered other workers over the difficulty of getting promotions at the company, according to the report.
The company regularly produces 14 podcasts – half of which are hosted by one of the four “Pod Save America” stars. With a massive infusion of cash and a captive audience, things are looking up for the company.
But things began to change in late 2022 when declining advertising dollars forced Crooked Media to drop one of its podcasts, “Hot Take,” a climate-themed show hosted by Mary Annaïse Heglar and climate reporter Amy Westervelt.
According to Heglar, he and Westervelt noticed “many red flags” during contract negotiations with Crooked Media.
Writing in a blog post published in March last year, he cited “very clear ideological differences with the head of the network.”
“Suffice it to say that Amy and I are far, far to the left of almost every show I’ve heard of in the Crooked world.”
