A media company founded by former aides to President Barack Obama — and partly funded by George Soros — that produces the influential “Pod Save America” podcast has been beset by internal turmoil between its progressive staffers and their moderate bosses, according to a report.
However, one recent skirmish between staffers and with management involved the hesitance of the “Pod Save America” hosts to criticize Israel over its military operations following the Hamas-led terrorist attacks of Oct. 7. Some Crooked staffers put an emoji of a watermelon — which symbolized support for the Palestinians — next to their names on Slack while other wore a keffiyeh, the traditional Palestinian head covering.Management resisted pressure from staffers to hold a company-wide discussion on the issue. Instead, they told employees to meet with their supervisors confidentially, according to Bloomberg News.
But things began to change in late 2022 when a decline in advertising dollars forced Crooked Media to axe one of its podcasts, “Hot Take,” a climate-themed show hosted by Mary Annaïse Heglar and climate reporter Amy Westervelt.According to Heglar, she and Westervelt noticed “a lot of red flags” when they negotiated their contract with Crooked Media.