Blaze Media Axes Creator Caught Up in Russian Influence Scandal

The conservative creator Lauren Chen had her contract terminated by Blaze Media on Thursday, a day after she was implicated in a bombshell DOJ indictment alleging a Russian influence campaign.

Chen, a co-founder of Tenet Media, had been collecting checks from the right-wing Blaze Media for creating YouTube content and appearing on BlazeTV, which was founded by the former Fox News host Glenn Beck.

That relationship is no more, however, Blaze Media CEO Tyler Cardon confirmed in a statement shared with Semafor.

“Lauren Chen was an independent contractor whose contract has been terminated,” he said.

The unsealed indictment alleged that prominent right-wing influencers—like Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Benny Johnson—were secretly funded by Russian state media employees to create content of their choosing.

That content was allegedly aligned with Moscow’s political interests in the states, with a pair of Russia Today (RT) employees accused of shelling out $10 million for favorable pieces of media from the group.

Caught up in the operation was Tenet Media’s founders, the indictment said. The filing did not list names, but Chen and Liam Donovan are the only individuals who would match that description.

The RT staffers were named in the indictment and charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Chen, Donovan, and others at Tenet Media were not indicted or mentioned by name in Wednesday’s filing. Some of Tenet Media’s influencers have spoken out against their bosses, however, claiming they had no clue the Kremlin was influencing their day-t0-day content.

“We are disturbed by the allegations in today’s indictment, which make clear that myself and other influencers were victims in this alleged scheme,” Johnson wrote in a statement. “My lawyers will handle anyone who states or suggests otherwise.”

The feds backed up that claim, writing in the indictment that some creators were provided false information on the source of the company’s funding.

Chen and Donovan have not addressed the situation publicly.