Jordan Chariton, a prominent face of the YouTube-native program and a rising star in the left-wing media sphere, announced earlier this week he’d been fired from the show Friday. | YouTube/The Young Turks ‘Young Turks’ reporter vows to sue over his firing

An ousted reporter for the popular progressive program “The Young Turks” says he intends to sue the show over its response to sexual assault allegations leveled against him, escalating a rift between the outlet and its former employee.

Jordan Chariton, a prominent face of the YouTube-native program and a rising star in the left-wing media sphere, announced earlier this week he’d been terminated from the show on Friday, less than two days after the allegations surfaced online.


Last week, a former employee at Truth Against the Machine, a news organization founded by Chariton, accused the former TYT reporter of sexual assault, allegations first published in HuffPost’s contributors section. The piece, written by activist Christian Chiakulas, was taken down after Chariton cast it as defamatory and false online.

Cenk Uygur, the founder and face of "The Young Turks," said during an announcement on the matter Wednesday that while the news organization did not investigate whether any assault took place between Chariton and his former co-worker at Truth Against the Machine, he committed “a clear firing offense” by sexually engaging with a subordinate at his other company. “That is clearly unacceptable,” he added.

Uygur also said they had uncovered that Chariton did not fully disclose the extent of his involvement with Truth Against the Machine, something he cast as “deeply troubling.”

“Here’s why we did it: to protect the people that work here and to make sure we have professional employment in place,” Uygur said of the firing.

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Though Chariton has yet to follow through on his legal threat, he has staunchly denied the assault allegations, writing in a detailed Nov. 16 post on Medium that the encounter with his former colleague was “consensual.” Chariton claimed the allegations had been concocted by a group that held a “vendetta against me for unrelated reasons have been targeting my professional colleagues and plotting to try and ‘take me down.’”

Chariton said last week that he “proactively” informed his employer of the looming accusations and that they immediately placed him on administrative leave and hired a private investigator to look into the matter — an investigation a representative for Chariton said Wednesday in an email was never "started, much less carried out." Within two days, Chariton was out at TYT.

In a statement provided by Chariton on Tuesday, a representative for the former TYT correspondent said the reporter “believes he has no choice but to pursue legal action” against “The Young Turks” and other media outlets reporting on “false sexual misconduct allegations.”

“Being found guilty-by-tweet is unrecoverable. How do you have a career after that?” Chariton wrote.

Chariton said he also intends to sue The Intercept, which reported on his termination Monday, citing an internal memo that confirmed the network had parted ways with him. A representative for Chariton said Wednesday the outlet "referred" to the TYT investigation despite its not having taken place.

Uygur pushed back against those claims Wednesday, saying that Chariton "misstated that we didn’t do an investigation” and that their internal probe turned up other problematic behavior.

The episode is the latest in a sweeping wave of reports detailing accusations of sexual misconduct by powerful men in the media and beyond.

On Tuesday, CBS announced it was terminating the employment of legendary broadcaster Charlie Rose after eight women came forward with sexual harassment claims against him during his time hosting the “Charlie Rose” show on PBS. CBS reported Tuesday that three more Rose accusers have since come forward with claims regarding his time at the network.

New York Times White House correspondent Glenn Thrush, a former POLITICO employee, was suspended Monday after a Vox report cited allegations of sexual misconduct against him, including claims that he made unwanted sexual advances toward young female employees during his time at POLITICO.

NBC analyst Mark Halperin, former New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier, NPR News chief Michael Oreskes and Vox editorial director Lockhart Steele are among the other men to face allegations of sexual impropriety in recent weeks. Halperin, Oreskes and Steele have all been terminated as a result of their alleged misdeed. In October, a new media venture terminated its relationship with Wieseltier, POLITICO reported.

Michael Calderone contributed to this report.