Janeane Garofalo Online Forum

I just caught wind of this, and I really don't know anymore than this short article explains, but sounds like not all is spits and giggles at Air America Radio:

http://199.249.170.141/radiomonitor/news/format/talk/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000930904

Report: Former Host Winstead Suing Air America
May 24, 2005
By Ken Tucker



Former Air America morning show host Lizz Winstead is suing the network, claiming she was fired, then stiffed out of nearly $300,000, according to the New York Post.

Winstead claims that she’s owed $200,000 of her $250,00 annual salary, plus $83,333 in severance pay, $14,423.08 in unused vacation time and $5,960.55 that she says the network pocketed from her on-air ads for the Vermont Teddy Bear Company.

Winstead was fired by Air America on March 4, according to the paper. The show she co-hosted with Rachel Maddow and Chuck D, “Unfiltered,” remained on-air until March 31. At that point, Jerry Springer’s show took over the time slot.

Asked for comment, a spokeswoman for Air America told BillboardRadioMonitor.com, “We do not comment on rumors of litigation or litigation."

Maddow now does an early morning show for Air America, while D is set to host a weekend show for the network.

How this may or may not impact Janeane remains to be seen...

Unfortunately, this will probably be grist for the mill of the network's detractors. :(

I'm shocked to see that Drudge hasn't posted it yet....he's disproportionately enthusiastic about any bad press he can generate against Air America.

And of course she should get what she's owed. It's not surprising based on what was shown on Left of the Dial. I wonder how much they still owe the people who stuck with them including Janeane?

Ophelia wrote:

I wonder how much they still owe the people who stuck with them including Janeane?

Exactly. I'm thinking this may be a residual back salary issue dating all the way to the Evan Cohen regime, because Liz's first year contract should have been up in less than thirty days from the time that she was fired. (March 31 was the netowrk's first anniversary.) No way they should have still owed her the bulk of her salary. :roll:

Thanks for that report about Liz Winstead and Air America.

I think what it means for Janeane is that she is making $250,000 to $300,000 a year -- on paper. It sounds as though she has probably pulled down about $50,000 to $75,000 thus far, which isn't bad for a radio host in the good old U.S.A.

Winstead, if she has a contract with that ridiculous salary listed, as I suspect she does, will get the rest of her money or the company can file for bankruptcy. Also, the unpaid sick-vacation leave won't be negotiable in court. She also appears to be asking for four months severance. That is a questionable item although in New York City three months severance is pretty much the standard. When I left GCR Publishing I was given six months. Can't say anything about the on-air advertisements. She is probably asking for a percentage. That probably won't fly.

Since Air America obviously has a pretty tough corporate structure, my guess is that they have each show separated out under its own corporation. AA will likely claim the original contract with Winstead is nul and void, will lose that battle and file in bankruptcy court within a few months after Winstead files a judgement. The bankruptcy would only be filed for that show and the others would continue on. Winstead's lawyer would then attempt to break the corporate veil and go back against the entire radio station, if his client chose to pursue the matter. That process could take a couple of years in NY.

By the way, Liz Winstead has a Comedy Central spot on today at 11 a.m. which I am going to miss, sadly, now that I have heard this news.

Sweet Jesus, these people in entertainment are grossly overpaid!!!!!! This is a damn political radio talk show for crying out loud that hasn't been around for more than one year.

And they wonder why the average American resents entertainers talking politics. Their lives and our lives have NOTHING in common. Politics is not merely about ideas. It is about relationships -- interactions of people sharing a group consciousness. All of them predators I might add.

Life at Majority Report should plug right along for the time being -- maybe indefinitely. Who knows?

Those are interesting observations, Farmer, to which I would add:

Lizz Winnstead's situation is probably different from Al Franken's or Janeane's in that her previous career credits have been not so much as a performer as a writer, director and producer; therefore, she is probably not collecting much in terms of residual payments for previous film and television work. Furthermore, she has indicated on her website:

I have just arrived back in NYC from 2 weeks in Minnesota where the siblings Winstead have successfully moved our 2 parents, 2 walkers, 2 oxygen tanks, 1 scooter, 1 nebulizer, silos of pills and Kleenex into a fab assisted living facility.

So I'm speculating that Lizz probably needed to kick in her share of a considerable expense. (My experience has been that those assisted living facilities cost approx $3500-5000/month). In short, she may simply have needed the cash more immediately than her fellow AAR celebs, and that predicated her decision to stand up to AAR and put the squeeze on them. I also retract any notions that she was fired because of "creative differences", low ratings or any job perfromance-related issues. She probably just faced down mangement, indicated her intent to pursue legal action to collect back pay, and they decided they had nothing to lose by firing her.

I'm also speculating that Sam and Janeane are also owed a lot of back pay, as Farmer indicates, posibly even more than Lizz. Public disclosures have been made that Franken's contract was for at least $1 million. Franken also stated after the financial scandal that resulted in bounced paychecks for AAR employees that he and other celebrities were willing to forego backpay until the network got back on its feet.
Contrary to popular belief, celebrities aren't fools when it comes to money. Most have financial advisors. I would further speculate that Franken and Janeane may well have cut a deal where their back pay will be compensated in terms of stock options or some other capital investment in the company. In fact, once I even heard Sam discussing on the air that he was investigating such options with AAR. This would explain Janeane's need to do other projects to supplement her cash flow, as well as AAR's indulgence in giving her the necessary time off to film movies and television pilots.
In the long term it would also mean that Franken and Janeane would have growing influence with the company and more say in terms of management decisions. This probably also explains why they are holding their tongues in regard to Lizz's firing and other recent management decisions. I also have to concur with Farmer that Lizz's long-term chances of recovering her back wages are fairly optimistic, since eventually her own peers may be in a position to influence the decision. I doubt whether Franken and Janeane would screw over "one of their own".
Finally, this entire scenario goes a long way toward reaffirming the true commitment of the celebrities to this project, since most people in the "real world" would have walked off the job a long time ago under such tenuous financial arrangements.