PJ Vogt, host of the popular “Reply All” podcast, took a leave of absence on Wednesday after complaints from former colleagues that he and a senior reporter contributed to a toxic work environment and spoke out against union efforts.
Mr. Vogt and the senior reporter, Sruthi Pinnamaneni, apologized in statements on Twitter.
The accusations at Gimlet Media, which produces “Reply All”, came after the podcast launched its second episode in a series on reports of discrimination in the popular video series from the food magazine Bon Appétit. After George Floyd’s death at the hands of the Minneapolis police last year, newsrooms and media organizations in the United States, including The New York Times, faced accusations that they did not adequately address inequalities within their ranks.
Eric Eddings, a former Gimlet employee who co-hosted the podcast “The Nod”, tweeted on Tuesday that “Reply All”, and specifically Mr. Vogt and Mrs. Pinnamaneni, contributed “to an almost identical toxic dynamic in Gimlet” like the one they described in their series on Bon Appétit.
“The stories of BA employees deserve to be told, but for me it is harmful to have this story and narrative coming from two people who worked actively and AGGRESSIVELY against the multiple efforts to diversify the team and the content of the Gimlet,” he wrote. “It was so exciting to hear the words of people who suffered like me, of people who caused that suffering for me and others.”
Mr. Vogt, 35, said on Twitter that he had “failed profoundly as an ally” when employees joined the union and apologized to everyone he disappointed. “I should have reflected on what it meant to not be on the same side of a movement led largely by young color producers in my company,” he said.
“Today they have my support, but I can lend it,” he wrote. “I was a baby and an idiot in a myriad of ways.” He said he had asked for permission to walk away from the show and was taking the time to “think and listen”.
Mrs. Pinnamaneni said its conduct around the diversity and efforts of the trade union organization he was “misinformed, ignorant and harmful”. She said on Twitter: “I didn’t pay enough attention to people of color in Gimlet and I should have used my power to support and elevate them even more.”
Mr. Vogt and another presenter, Alex Goldman, started the podcast in 2014, adapting it from their previous WNYC radio show, “TLDR” (very long; I haven’t read it). In recent years, “Respond to All” episodes have taken listeners within ringing scam circles in India, to a maximum security prison in Illinois, and on a journey to track down a guitar song that a director listened to on the radio as a teenager .
Spotify, owner of Gimlet Media, did not respond to a request for comment. Gimlet Media also did not respond to a request for comment.
Eddings, his former colleague, said he heard Vogt “denigrate other colleagues” and “personally saw messages of harassment sent by the PJ” to union organizers. Vogt was not receptive to complaints that black officials thought they had no opportunity to progress, he said.
He also said that he asked Vogt several times to contribute to diversity efforts, such as joining a diversity group or speaking at team meetings to show that the issue was important to senior figures, but that Vogt did not. He said people of color on the podcast saw union membership as a way to create an environment where they could succeed, but that Vogt and Pinnamaneni tried to gather support against them.
Brittany Luse, a former Gimlet employee who co-hosted “The Nod” with Eddings, spoke in support of her statements. “It is impossible to explain how dark that time was,” she wrote on twitter, referring to the unionization efforts in Gimlet. “Their reaction thickened the air.”
Reggie Ugwu contributed reports.