Media Giant Cumulus Drops Podcast Org For Begging Forgiveness Over Ben Shapiro’s ‘Presence’ at Conference: ‘Every Voice Matters’

Broadcasting company Cumulus Media cut ties with Podcast Movement, a trade association that apologized last month for Daily Wire co-founder and podcaster Ben Shapiro making an appearance at a trade show.

Cumulus released a statement this week announcing they are “disassociating” from Podcast Movement as they are “dismayed and disappointed” by the treatment of Shapiro. Shapiro’s company was sponsoring a booth at the trade show, but Podcast Movement later apologized for the conservative pundit’s very presence.

“Hi folks, we owe you an apology before sessions kick off for the day,” Podcast Movement wrote in now deleted tweets last week about Shapiro. “Yesterday afternoon, Ben Shapiro briefly visited the PM22 expo area near The Daily Wire booth. Though he was not registered or expected, we take full responsibility for the harm done by his presence.”

There was no specification about the alleged “harm” Shapiro was causing with greeting fans at a booth representing a company he co-founded, but Cumulus made it clear in their statement that they are done with Podcast Movement over the statement lack of a followup explanation.

Their statement reads:

At Cumulus Media, our tenet is that Every Voice Matters and we support conferences and trade events where differing political viewpoints can be expressed and received with respect. As such, we were dismayed and disappointed by Podcast Movement’s handling of the reaction to our partner, top podcaster, and conservative talk leader Ben Shapiro’s mere presence at Podcast Movement. After giving the leaders of Podcast Movement sufficient time to appropriately address their misstep, we are disassociating from Podcast Movement, including canceling our 2023 sponsorship plans.

Cumulus Media is a major broadcasting company that owns more than 400 radio stations and has syndicated Shapiro’s podcast since 2019.

Daily Wire co-founder Jeremy Boreing celebrated Cumulus’ decision, but also noted Podcast Movement has yet to apologize to Shapiro or Daily Wire.

“Though Podcast Movement quietly removed their bigoted tweet thread over the weekend, they still have yet to retract and publicly apologize for their hateful comments about Ben Shapiro and The Daily Wire,” he said, according to Daily Wire.