A number of stories have been swirling in recent days regarding Premiere Networks’ “The Breakfast Club” based at iHeartMedia Hip Hop “Power 105.1” WWPR-FM New York.
In a nutshell, the iHeartMedia New York offices were NOT raided by federal agents investigating co-host DJ Envy’s role in a real estate ponzi scheme. The company is seeking a new co-host for the show, but it is NOT to replace Envy. And is Charlamagne tha God a candidate to replace Trevor Noah as host of The Daily Show? Maybe…
Last week, following the arrest of Cesar Pina on one count of wire fraud, a debunked source told WNBC-TV New York that a raid of iHeartMedia’s New York offices took place despite Envy’s attorney Massimo D’Angelo stating “that his understanding is the report that federal agents visited iHeartRadio’s offices and removed electronic equipment in connection with the investigation and charges brought against Cesar Pina is false.” It would take until TMZ followed up on Friday evening with confirmation for iHeartMedia that no raid took place for those rumors to subside. A business partner with Envy, Pina was a regular guest on the Breakfast Club and would advertise his FlippingNJ real estate investment scheme on the show. The court documents stated, “Pina and his business partner, a well-known disc jockey and radio personality, operated a company that conducted real estate seminars around the country. Together, they used DJ Envy’s celebrity to promote various real estate enterprises that Pina controlled.” D’Angelo told WNBC, “Per my client’s dismissal motions, which are a matter of public record, my client had nothing whatsoever to do with the specific deals concerning Pina’s alleged real estate scheme. As such, any reference to my client’s involvement in the purported scheme is solely for purposes of sensationalizing the case because of his celebrity status. In fact, my client is a victim, having also invested $500,000 in one of Mr. Pina’s real estate deals, without seeing any returns.”
In perhaps a poorly-timed job posting, iHeartMedia reopened the search for a new co-host for the show to join Charlamagne tha God and DJ Envy following Angela Yee’s move last year to launch a new syndicated midday show. Because of the timing, multiple Hip Hop blogs saw the job posting and jumped to the conclusion that it was for Envy due to the Pina situation despite being posted on October 12. However, in reality it was a repost of the same job posting made by the company following Yee’s departure. Similarly, WWPR-FM has reopened the search for a new Assistant Program Director to succeed DJ Prostyle following his move to Florida in September 2021.
The other member of The Breakfast Club also made news this week as Charlamagne tha God’s guest host stint on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show was rescheduled for the week of October 30. Charlamagne, who hosted a weekly show “Hell of a Week with Charlamagne tha God” on Comedy Central for two years until its cancellation earlier this year, was originally set to guest host the week of May 15 until it was postponed by the writer’s strike.
