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.
The company declined to say how many employees were affected, but a second 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.
Among the shows hit were “What The Flick” co-hosted by TheWrap reviews editor Alonso Duralde, “Pop Trigger,” and “Nerd Alert.”
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.
Reps for the company 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 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.”
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 by revelations about old blog posts in which founder Cenk Uygur 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 with such crude advice as: “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.”
Mike Cernovich, a Timeline: From Choking Advice to Pizzagate to Firings (Photos)
Maybe you'd never heard of right-wing provocateur Mike Cernovich before last week, when he helped get James Gunn fired from the next "Guardians of the Galaxy" film by highlighting Gunn's old Twitter jokes about rape and pedophilia. But Cernovich himself has a long history online, filled with both successes and statements he has since distanced himself from -- for reasons that will be obvious.
Advice on Choking Women
Before gaining fame as a Trump superfan, Cernovich got his start in the men's rights and pick-up artist community. His advice column, published on his blog "Danger and Play," included suggestions on the proper way to "choke" women during sex. This entry from December 2011 has since been deleted: "Choking works because it’s a show of dominance. Women only want to have consensual sex with men they know could rape them."
Pizzagate
Cernovich first came to wide public attention over his promotion of a conspiracy theory during the 2016 election that suggested that a pedophile ring was being run out of the basement of a Washington, D.C. pizzeria. The story was bunk, and Cernovich has moved to distance himself from Pizzagate.
Will Sommer/Twitter
John Conyers
Cernovich's biggest score of all probably wasn't James Gunn, but John Conyers. A tip provided by Cernovich to BuzzFeed about accusations of sexual misconduct forced the Democrat to resign his seat in disgrace in December 2017.
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Sam Seder
Mike Cernovich targeted the MSNBC contributor over a years-old joke about his daughter being raped. MSNBC dropped Seder in December 2017, but reinstated him after a public backlash.
MSNBC
Sopan Deb
Cernovich went after New York Times reporter Sopan Deb in March 2017 over a tweeted pun about the rapper Bow Wow. The incident earned Deb an official rebuke from the Times' then-public editor, Liz Spayd.
Josh Barro
In November 2017, Cernovich demanded an apology from Josh Barro after the Business Insider Senior Editor made fun of his lisp. Barro swiftly retreated.
Twitter
Perry Fein
In June 2018, Los Angeles Times freelancer Perry Fein slipped into Cernovich's DMs and wished harm upon him. His relationship with the newspaper was over just hours later.
Los Angeles Times Media Group
James Gunn
Last week, Cernovich helped lead an online campaign highlighting old tweets in which Gunn joked about rape about pedophilia. Gunn offered an apology, but was dropped by Disney from the "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise.
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Cheri Jacobus
Before the James Gunn situation, Cernovich also led a brief and successful campaign to pressure USA Today to drop columnist Cheri Jacobus. The decision from the paper came after Jacobus' bizarre comments about convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Michael Ian Black
Cernovich has trained his fire on comedian Michael Ian Black, who has said several times on Twitter that his tweets about pedophilia were only jokes.
YouTube
Dan Harmon
Fresh off his victory in ousting Gunn from "Guardians of the Galaxy," Cernovich forced "Rick and Morty" co-creator Dan Harmon and his employers at Adult Swim to apologize over an old sketch that featured Harmon graphically simulating the rape of a baby. (The sketch used a doll, not an actual baby.)
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The right-wing provocateur has become a thorn to liberals online
Maybe you'd never heard of right-wing provocateur Mike Cernovich before last week, when he helped get James Gunn fired from the next "Guardians of the Galaxy" film by highlighting Gunn's old Twitter jokes about rape and pedophilia. But Cernovich himself has a long history online, filled with both successes and statements he has since distanced himself from -- for reasons that will be obvious.