[0 fucks given about downvotes, I know this sub hates Ben Shapiro and the DW. I routinely speak truth to those who don't want to hear it on Reddit, lol.]
Ben Shapiro and the DW are 100% in the right in this one, and Crowder is a slimy douchebag who is 100% in the wrong.
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Crowder solicited a job offer from the DW
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10/5/22: The DW gave him an offer of $50 million for 4 years, meant to be a starting point for negotiations (the document even says this, that it's a starting point and a framework, not a "take it or leave it" deal)
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11/2/22: Crowder gets INSULTED by the offer, demands $30M per year, and demands the DW re-write the term sheet entirely instead of making edits to the one already provided.
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11/14/22: DW rejects Crowder's demands.
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12/12/22: Steven registers http://StopBigCon.com, planning a future hit piece on the DW to cast himself as a rebel against the establishment, and a victim.
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1/7/23: Steven texts Jeremy in friendly fashion to ask if they can talk.
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1/9/23: Steven calls Jeremy and secretly tapes him.
Then Crowder releases his little hit piece, lambasting the "contract" without mentioning that it was not a final offer but just a starting point. He cherry picked out certain contract provisions designed to share or mitigate risk, some of which were provisions I would personally disagree with as a little excessive, and which might have been inserted or exaggerated purely to be "traded away". I don't do business that way, but it's a standard business practice. Nothing wrong whatsoever with the DW doing it.
Crowder is a baby. He doesn't seem to understand how the concept of negotiation works. His ego couldn't handle getting offered what he thought he deserved as a 1st offer, to the point where he got emotional and unprofessional about it.
Crowder's attacks on the DW amount to r-antiwork bullshit. "slave contract" for $50 million. Riiiiight.
And yes, Crowder did the supremely scumbag move of knifing his fellow conservatives and friends in the back and trying to damage their reputation, all so he could generate hype, drama, and views for his new project launch. Secretly recording a phone call made under false pretenses is a mega scumbag move.
I think they wanted more or less the same things, and the only issue was money. Had they offered $30 million per year like Crowder wanted, instead of throwing a fit, he would have simply suggested some small changes and agreed. The fundamental problem was that $12.5m and $30m are too far apart. One of those two is simply wrong. I suspect that Crowder is not worth $30m. I think the DW has a better idea what Crowder is worth than he does because they have a lot of hosts and understand the ranges they're worth.
Yeah, bingo. Crowder's game plan here is to stir up drama on purpose to promote his new thing he just launched.
DW didn't want this fight and was very nice at first, but eventually were forced to defend themselves when Crowder escalated with the secretly recorded phone call. My take is that nobody will want to engage in contract negotiations with Crowder ever again after seeing what he just did to the DW.