TYTDEATHWATCH->Young Turks Slashes Staff, Drops Entertainment Programming
Layoffs come just two months after some of the channel’s most senior on-air talent including Nomiki Konst and Hannah Cranston were let go
Jon Levine | August 28, 2018 @ 4:27 PMLast Updated: August 28, 2018 @ 5:13 PM
 YouTube
The Young Turks slashed more staff this week and ended a number of their non-political programs, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to TheWrap on Tuesday. Among the shows hit were “What The Flick” co-hosted by TheWrap reviews editor Alonso Duralde, “Pop Trigger,” and “Nerd Alert.”
The company declined to say how many employees were affected, but a different individual with knowledge of situation tells TheWrap that at least 15 people were affected in the latest layoffs, and that since June the company has let approximately 25 people go. According to the individual, morale is low as the have layoffs affected studio employees such as editors, crew and members of TYT’s publishing team, as well as entertainment hosts and producers.
The latest cuts come less than two months after the network ousted some of the channel’s most senior on-air talent including Nomiki Konst and Hannah Cranston.
Also Read: Young Turks Network Sheds Senior Employees in Staff Shakeup
Reps for the company at Sunshine Sachs declined to provide a statement to TheWrap, instead directing us to a statement it provided to the website Tubefilter about the layoffs.
“TYT Network made programming changes that resulted in retiring entertainment shows in order to double down and focus on being the Home of Progressives. These entertainment shows had a great run and we will miss them. We want to thank every host and producer, past and present, for their hard work and dedication,” the statement to Tubefilter read. “At TYT, the Home of Progressives, we are energized by our renewed focus on the news and politics coverage that has dominated the network. It is more important now than ever to channel our resources and hold the establishment accountable.”
“A statement from TYT on this is public. We won’t have further comment,” said a spokesperson. “Tubefilter covered.”
The cutbacks are the latest bad news for a company that was flying high just one year ago. In August, 2017 the Young Turks raised $20 million in a round of funding led by Hollywood mogul, Jeffrey Katzenberg.
Since that time, the company has been rocked not only by cutbacks, but also scandals including revelations about old blog posts from founder Cenk Uygur in which he said women were genetically “flawed” because they didn’t want to have sex with him enough. He later apologized for his comments, telling TheWrap they no longer reflect his views and that he made them while he was a “conservative.”
Cenk’s nephew Hasan Piker also drew fire for old videos of his short lived series “bro tip” which aimed to teach men how to pick up women. Among the comments in the segment was Piker’s advice that, “It’s time to separate her from her herd, meaning her crowd of girlfriends who are going to do their best to c—block you because they’re fat and lonely.”
thewrap.com |
