AP Photo/Alex Brandon.
Ronna McDaniel’s time at NBC News was shorter than half of a Scaramucci, but she may still get a six-figure payment — or even more — according to a report by Politico that says the former RNC chair has contacted a prominent media lawyer.
On Tuesday, news broke that NBC was ending its relationship with McDaniel, just days after announcing she had been hired as a political analyst. The announcement came after a furious — and very public — backlash from a group of the network’s on-air personalities, who pointed out McDaniel’s involvement in former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Firing McDaniel may calm the upset network talent, but it seems likely to come with a high cost. Multiple media outlets reported that McDaniel’s two-year contract was set to pay her nearly $300,00o per year, and sources told Mediaite’s Aidan McLaughlin that the contract was actually signed.
In a breach of contract claim, the specific language in the contract and the appropriate state law will be relevant, but as a general concept, since McDaniel was ready, willing, and able to perform her part of the contract obligations, arguing that NBC breached the contract should be fairly simple. Helping McDaniel’s case is the fact that she already showed up for what was essentially her first and last day at work: her March 24 interview with Kristen Welker on Meet the Press. Welker even mentioned on air that McDaniel was now a “paid NBC News contributor.”
Politico Playbook’s Wednesday edition highlighted just how expensive that roughly 20-minute segment could be for NBC, calculating that if McDaniel was able to collect the approximately $600,000 she would be owed for her full 2-year contract, it would break down to “more than $30,000 per minute, or $500 per second.” (Emphasis in original.)
Politico also reported that McDaniel was bringing in the big guns, legally speaking, consulting with Bryan Freedman, a top-level entertainment and media attorney, to discuss her options.
Freedman made the Mediaite Most Influential in News Media 2023 list as “one of the most powerful — and most feared people in the media industry,” a “pitbull attorney” who has represented some of the biggest names in the media industry who found themselves unceremoniously removed from their posts, including Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon.
McDaniel is reportedly also “exploring potential defamation and hostile work environment torts,” according to Politico, because of the tsunami of hostility directed her way from what seemed like the entire MSNBC schedule for a few days. Those claims will almost certainly be more difficult and complex to establish, unlike the relatively clear-cut breach of contract claims, but Freedman definitely has the résumé to handle the entire matter.
Mediaite reached out to Freedman’s law firm for comment, but has not yet received a response.
