Glenn Beck Counter-Sues Tomi Lahren for Poor Treatment of Staff and Causing "Embarrassment"

On Monday afternoon Glenn Beck countersued Tomi Lauren asserting that the she wasn't fired for revealing she was pro-choice on The View. According to Beck, who owns the online and cable network The Blaze, already planned to fire Lahren when her contract expired in September. The causes of termination: Poor treatment of network staff, "borderline profane" on-air word choices and the "embarrassment" Lahren caused The Blaze and its employees because of her "uninformed and inconsistent" statements.

Lahren sued Beck and The Blaze earlier this month claiming she was wrongfully terminated for telling The View's hosts that, despite her conservative bona fides, she was a supporter of abortion rights. Many of Lahren's colleagues, according to the suit, sent her positive emails after her appearance. Despite that support, however, The Blaze's human resources department informed Lahren a few days later that she'd been suspended indefinitely and didn't need to return to The Blaze's office. 

In her suit, Lahren claims that her suspension is tantamount to firing. She no longer has access to her work email, she says in the suit, or the Facebook page built for her by The Blaze. The network, Lahren claims, is stymieing her right to free speech.

Beck's counter-suit repeats statements made by The Blaze in the wake of Lahren's initial lawsuit. The TV personality hasn't be fired, Beck says. She's simply being held to a standard pay-or-play clause in her contract, which allows the network to take her off the air as long she is compensated.

Beck says his decision to stop Lahren's show comes down to more than her apparent change of heart on abortion – although he does point out that, as recently as December 2016, Lahren described those who support abortion rights as “straight-up baby killers.”

Lahren, according to Beck, frequently mistreated network staff by "constantly complaining about everything including but not limited to lighting, room temperature, editing, shooting and directing." She refused to work with one of the network's two full-time makeup artists, resulting in a report to the network's human resources department, Beck says, and had to have her on-air word choices "addressed repeatedly for bordering on the profane."

"[I]t is apparent that Lahren brought this case an attempt to strong-arm The Blaze, in the press and in court, into agreeing to terminate Lahren’s employment agreement with The Blaze before the date through which she freely agreed to be exclusive to The Blaze," Beck's suit says. "The Blaze, however, has abided by its contractual obligations and, in fact, is now forced for bring these Counterclaims against Lahren to force her to do the same."