In January 2023, Philadelphia NPR station WHYY fired reporter Jad Sleiman over jokes in his stand-up comedy routine that were deemed inflammatory and against NPR’s code of conduct. One year later, Sleiman has his job back after an arbitrator’s ruling.
WHYY management discovered Sleiman’s social media account, where he shared clips of his stand-up. Executives argued the “egregious” jokes violated the company’s social media guidelines, describing the content as having, “Sexual connotations, racial connotations, and misogynistic information.”
Sleiman, who is a US Marine Corps veteran, has been a news reporter since 2013. Sleiman started stand-up comedy in 2021 after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He found comedy to be a creative outlet. Jokes in his routine center around his experiences as an Arab American, his Muslim upbringing, his military service, and his reporting in the Middle East. As the WHYY newsroom is unionized, he appealed the decision with the help of SAG-AFTRA attorneys.
Arbitrator Lawrence Coburn, while acknowledging some content could be viewed as inflammatory, ruled he found parts of the videos to be humorous, insightful, and not always offensive. Coburn’s ruling allowed Sleiman to return to work, with conditions to delete the nine videos in question and any posts disparaging WHYY following his dismissal. He noted that such posts, while foolish, did not disqualify Sleiman from reinstatement.
Post-arbitration, Sleiman expressed his determination to continue both his reporting and comedy careers, believing there is no conflict in pursuing both.
