Tomi Lahren, former anchor at The Blaze, is suing Glenn Beck and his website for wrongful termination over how she was fired two weeks ago.
Lahren filed the lawsuit in Dallas County, Texas, on Friday. Her suit alleges her show “Tomi” was suspended and she was harassed by coworkers and management for expressing her pro-choice views on ABC show “The View” in late March.
“I can’t sit here and be a hypocrite and say I’m for limited government but I think the government should decide what women do with their bodies,” the 24-year-old told the hosts of “The View.”
Her comments caused a firestorm with her conservative viewers. But Lahren’s suit maintains that Beck knew about her position on the issue. Lahren also insists a producer who had accompanied to the ABC interview praised her for making the comments afterward, indicating no one had an issue with her breaking from the anti-abortion views most conservatives like Beck have.
A fellow The Blaze anchor Amy Holmes went on MSNBC in September 2015 and admitted she was pro-choice, but never received the backlash Lahren claims to be enduring.
“It is puzzling that an employee who remains under contract (and is still being paid) has sued us for being fired, especially when we continue to comply fully with the terms of our agreement with her,” thr Blaze said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
It’s unclear when problems between Beck and Lahren escalated. Her show was initially suspended one week, but new details outlined in her lawsuit say her bosses told her to “go dark” on social media, where she has 4.2 million followers on Facebook. The actions against Lahren continued when she found out her coworkers had spelled out an “X” in caution tape on her dressing room door and the company shut down her work email account, the suit says.
Lahren was “understandably disappointed, saddened and in shock for being suspended for freely expressing her opinions, which certainly reconcile with what is the law of the land in the United States i.e., a woman’s constitutional right to choose and in so way inconsistent with any of [Lahren’s] obligations under the Employment Contract,” the suit states.
Lahren said the sudden publicity of the matter was done to “inflate Beck’s profile, from what has become a mediocre following, all at [Lahren’s expense.”
Lahren has maintained she wants to be out of her contract as a result of the alleged harassment instead of waiting until September when it is set to conclude. The plaintiff has asked for a temporary restraining order against the Blaze, as well as attorneys’ fees and suffering costs, according to a report published Friday.
