Levant denied the accusations and said Robertson and Llewelyn-John had been fired for shoddy work, and that they had made a series of escalating demands for money in return for not airing the company's dirty laundry.



"Absolute bullshit and nonsense," Robertson said of Levant's counter-accusations when contacted by BuzzFeed News. "He has lied, made all this up and has released no evidence."

Robertson said it was up to Levant to release any documents that bolstered his claim, and suggested his former boss was trying to discredit him in order to keep Rebel viewers from learning the truth about the website's operations.

"What he has said in response is absolutely the definition of defamation and slander," he said. "Of course now we will be taking legal action against him to prove this nonsense."

Levant did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The tit for tat between Levant and Robertson is the latest in a string of setbacks for The Rebel.

In its two years of existence, the website has grown from a small blog devoted to Canadian news to become one of the leading online platforms for far-right voices across the English speaking internet. Its coverage — which is hostile to political correctness, undocumented immigrants, and Muslims — has made it an important part of the online right-wing media ecosystem, joining the likes of Breitbart and Infowars.

Following its sympathetic coverage of the white nationalist protests in Charlottesville, however, a number of contributors, including cofounder Brian Lilley, stepped away from the site, citing its lack of editorial judgment. Gavin McInnes, one of the biggest names left on the roster, is also reportedly leaving, according to CanadaLand.

The Rebel has also been subject to a sustained boycott campaign by activists pressuring advertisers to cut ties with the site, and many conservative Canadian politicians who once eagerly flocked to Levant's site are now weighing whether it's become too toxic to associate with.

And just when things seemed like they couldn't get any worse for The Rebel, it came to light late Thursday that one of the first and best-known correspondents for the site, Faith Goldy, had appeared on a podcast affiliated with the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer, where she spoke in glowing terms about the white nationalist protests in Charlottesville and traded jokes with the hosts about her Jewish boss. She was fired as a result.

Levant had attempted to distance The Rebel from the alt-right after Charlottesville, writing a public memo that disavowed the open racism of Richard Spencer and others identified with the movement. But after years of flirting with extremism on the far-right and giving a platform to some of its most odious figures, it remains to be seen if Levant and The Rebel can outrun that legacy.