Warner Wolf Sues Don Imus, WABC/New York, Execs For Age Discrimination

Wolf

WARNER WOLF is suing DON IMUS and CUMULUS News-Talk WABC-A/NEW YORK and three executives for age discrimination, reports the NEW YORK POST.

The suit alleges that WOLF, now 80, was replaced in 2016 due to his age and replaced by SID ROSENBERG, 30 years younger, as IMUS' sports anchor. He also cited comments IMUS made on the air about his age, including suggesting that WOLF be "put out to pasture" and shot with an elephant dart gun. Included in the suit is the claim that because IMUS accounted for about one-third of WABC's revenue, he was left to "call the shots."

WOLF, who also named GM CHAD LOPEZ, PD CRAIG SCHWALB, and CUMULUS SVP/Programming MIKE MCVAY as defendants, is seeking severance -- 26 weeks of pay, totaling $97.500 -- and damages. According to the suit, WOLF said he took a pay cut from $195,000 with 26 weeks of severance if he were to be fired to $80,000 with the 26 weeks provision intact as a condition of allowing WOLF to do the show from his home in NAPLES, FL. CUMULUS disputes whether the latter was ever consummated; WOLF was fired before the new deal was to go into effect, with IMUS emailing that the NAPLES arrangement was not working ("We tried it. It sucks. If you’re in studio in NEW YORK … it’s terrific. Anything else is not").

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