Comedian Theo Von says a media company defrauded his podcast and several others of several million dollars.
During episode #461 of his show This Past Weekend, Von told his viewers that Kast Media and its founder and Chief Executive Officer Colin Thomson fleeced an amount in the “six figures” from him while purporting to facilitate advertising deals for his show.
Von said that his show is one of several podcasts Thomson has stolen from and that the cumulative total was over $4 million.
“People get taken advantage of a lot in business and businesses use tactics and stuff to hide,” Von said on the Sept. 6 episode. The comedian added Thomson may “get my money.”
“But you f—-ed with the wrong rat, Colin. I’ll tell you that, brother,” said Von.
Von said that while, initially, the working relationship between his podcast and Kast Media went well, the payments owed to This Past Weekend in exchange for ad reads began to diminish.
“The advertisers were paying Colin Thomson and Kast Media and they weren’t paying us,” said Von.
Von said that after repeatedly asking for the payments owed, he was able to cut ties with Kast Media for breach of contract and has been working with another company. According to Von, Thomson then tried to convince him to join a new network – PodcastOne, which is owned by LiveOne – promising that he would be paid some of what he was owed in stock. At the time, PodcastOne was not a publicly traded company.
The media subsidiary went public on Sept. 8, with a minimum of $8 per share.
“PodcastOne was 10th in PODTRAC’s Podcast Industry Top Publishers Rankings for July 2023 with a U.S. Unique Monthly Audience of approximately 5.5 million and Global Downloads and Streams of approximately 31 million,” per GlobalNewsWire.
“It felt like to me – they’re trying to leverage our podcast and other podcasts to then make their stock do well,” said Von. “And then, if that happens, then we’ll get a share of our money. … The whole thing to me felt really seedy.”
Von claimed LiveOne said they felt Colin Thomson had done a “good job” and that “he would be part of the team still.”
“It felt real dirty and it felt like … just no respect for podcasting, no respect for the work that we had done. You know, to get paid by the advertisers and then not pay us,” said Von. “And then for Colin to lead us in this direction and say, ‘Well if you join this other group before their stock goes out, that – that then we’ll pay in some of the stock but part of that will be based on if we’re there for it to do well.”
“I know what it feels like to be taken advantage of and I wouldn’t do that to these people,” he said. “And, so, I say this just because I don’t want this guy taking advantage of anybody else – a lot of times in business practice especially in … entertainment stuff, a lot of people are able to snake away. And they are able to slip through and use tactic and shell games and bulls—.”
“But you f—ed with the wrong rat, homie,” said Von. “I have a voice. And a lot of other people are forced into these bad deals because they’re afraid to speak up. ... And that’s not what our show is about.”
Kast Media was previously accused of not paying creators in July. Professional wrestling podcaster Jim Cornett, the host of Jim Cornette's Drive Thru, and Brian Last released an hour long discussion of their experience with Thomas and Kast Media. The men said the company was “forcing us into a bad deal.”
“They allege that the company hasn’t paid for the advertising sold on the show for some time; and that, should Kast Media’s acquisition by Live One go ahead - and they sign an agreement - they would only be paid two-thirds of the money they are currently owed, with the final third as shares,” reports PodNews. “Without the Live One deal however, which was pre-announced two months ago but has yet to go through, Kast Media is likely to go bankrupt."
Von repeatedly shared photos of Thomson throughout his segment, calling him a “crook” and the “Bernie Madoff of podcasting,” and, at one point, addressed the executive directly.
“If you keep that money … you must have needed it. You must have needed it. I don’t know,” said Von. “But you can’t get me to shut up. … If that’s the cost of it, for me to say my f—ing piece – you know how many other podcasters wanted to say this s— right now but can’t say it?”
Von said he had waited a year to “speak up” for himself and expressed sympathy for the other people impacted by Kast Media
“Some of these people’s podcast – this is all they had, man, and these motherf—-ers did that to them,” said Von. “So I’m sorry about that and I’m sorry for them. And I'm just happy to have a voice for myself.”
He thanked his audience for supporting his show and “making this about me.”
“But this is the only place I could do this where I felt like it would have some effect,” said Von. “I wanted to be able to speak my piece.”
