From the October 18, 2021, edition of The Dan Bongino Show as aired on Fox Nation

DAN BONGINO (HOST): I've got a lot to get through today, folks. This is going to be a difficult show for me because I'm not really happy with the company I work with right here. I don't work for.

So, you know, regarding COVID, you can probably sense my hesitancy here because I want to be sure I get this right. You know, I don't work for anyone, I work with a lot of people -- too old to be working for anyone. I've got a bad temper and I don't want to be working for anybody. So I worked for myself and I choose who to partner with, so I partner with Cumulus, you're probably listening to me on a Cumulus station now.

So Cumulus, for some stupid reason, thought it would be a really good idea to do a vaccine mandate. Why they would do that, I have no idea. I don't know if they're trained medical professionals or what, and I'm missing something. But as a result of that, there's been some reporting about some people who've had to separate from their jobs or moved into different positions because of it. And I'm kind of done with that. Yeah, I'm not going to play along with that.

So out of respect for them, I called them today and let them know my position. But I'm not playing along with that. Then I'll invite, by the way, any of those hosts who, according to a article I read today in Inside Radio, who've been let go because of it, you're welcome to come on the show. In fact, I'm reaching out to one of them right now in case any of you were under the mistaken belief that I wasn't paying attention to what was going on. I don't advertise a lot of what I do on the air because I don't need to, I'm not trying to impress anyone. But I assure you, as anyone involved in the show knows, I have been fighting this fight for a long time. This is not new.

I believe these vaccine mandates are unethical. I believe they're immoral. I believe they don't take into account the science of natural -- natural immunity due to a prior infection. I believe they're broad-based and don't take into account an individual circumstances of why they may or may not want to take a vaccine. And they're antithetical to everything I believe in, my company believes in, I believe in myself, my wife believes in, and anyone associated with my company, it would not be subjected to these same restrictions.

So I'll say again, I'm not going to let this go. Cumulus is going to have to make a decision with me if they want to continue this partnership or they don't. But I'm talking to you on their airwaves. They don't have to let that happen. And I wouldn't mind if they didn't. Because it's really unfortunate that people with a lower profile than me, who don't have 300-plus stations, have been summarily either shown the door or been put in really untenable circumstances because they simply want to make a medical decision by themselves. Well, to those of you out there, work for this company, other companies, I don't speak with forked tongue, I'm with you. And I'm working today and have been for weeks on this. And candidly, I'd rather not be here today on this station or any of these stations. I'd rather just talk to you on my podcast, which is mine, and I do what I want and I do what I want here too, make no mistake.

But I'm doing it because I want something to change, and I'm giving them an opportunity to do it. But if they don't, this is going to be an entirely untenable situation going forward. You really want me on your airwaves every day talking about this? You have a choice. I work with you. I do not work for you. I never will. You may have had other people in a corner, but you don't have me. And it's my obligation, given everything I've been through health-wise, it's my obligation to stand up for them. A lot of them, their entire livelihood was at risk, I don't know if you cared about that or you just disregarded it. I don't know what, did you have a personal consultation with Fauci or something, they tell you how valuable these mandates are?

Again, I don't know what led you to the mistaken belief that I was just going to sit back and take this and let these people wither on the vine. I'm not. So we find ourselves in this situation right here where I'm on their airwaves, you're listening to me on their airwaves. They're standing by a principle that's not mine. The principle -- it goes entirely against my ethos of freedom and liberty, and we're at a loggerheads. So I'll be keeping you updated on that situation day by day. Let you know what I'm doing.

And as I said, I don't see this going forward as a workable arrangement. Hmm. Puts me kind of in a -- I'm in a spot, doesn't it? Puts them kind of in a spot to. We both can't be in that spot at the same time.

So I told you what I was going to do. I told you I was going to go on the air today and address this. And now you have it. And I'll be doing that every day. This is, mark this, this is day one of Dan's vaccine mandate action. OK, so we will be keeping track of this moving forward.

I really don't want to do this. But because you've been gracious enough to listen to this show and listen to me. I do have to produce a product for you for three hours a day, and I do believe in that product, and while I'm on the air with these airwaves, however long that lasts, I am going to produce your products so you're not wasting your time.

But I want you to know I'm not letting this go. I'm not even considering letting it go. I'm announcing it publicly, so, you know I'm not letting it go. I'm announcing it to them on their airwaves so they know, you know, I know, we know, and they know nobody's letting it go. But I promise you, I have no intentions of letting these guys get let go, get harassed because they made a private and personal medical decision on only one of the biggest issues of our time.

There is a very real thing called natural immunity. There's an even realer thing called freedom and liberty. This is a constitutional republic. People have the right to make their own medical decisions, and the company has the right to do what it wants as well. But if the company is going to -- I get that, I'm not naive to that. But if the company is going to make political decisions, and I believe this was a political decision. I don't believe this is based on any science. I could argue it all day. And they should at least recognize that the company is earning a lot of money off people who have the opposite political persuasion. Notably, me and others.

So like I said, I'll be inviting any of them on the show if they'd like to come on and speak about it being let go or being harassed. And we'll see where that goes.