The Daily Beast (Credit: Daily Beast/Facebook)

Conservative pundit and Fox News contributor Dan Bongino claims the Daily Beast‘s story reporting he was “dropped” by NRA TV was “patently false.” Instead, Bongino said he chose not to renew his contract.

Bongino is now suing the outlet for $15 million, arguing he asked the Daily Beast to correct the story “multiple times.”

The article in question was published on Dec. 10, 2019, “Dan Bongino out at NRATV – BONGI-NO-MORE.” It reports, based on two anonymous sources, that NRA TV “dropped” Bongino, that Bongino “subsequently confirmed” he chose to end the show, that one anonymous source disputed that, and that NRA TV issued a statement saying it tried to keep Bongino. The article notes it has been updated.

Bongino announced the lawsuit on his website.

The Dec. 10 lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, and calls the Daily Beast “a digital assassin owned and controlled by billionaire Clinton-devotes, Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg.”

The lawsuit alleges the Daily Beast knew its story was inaccurate because its reporter Lachlan Markay texted him, “Heard you didn’t renew with NRA TV” before publication.

Bongino’s lawsuit says he has never been fired before and claims that the Daily Beast had a “long-standing animus and ill-will towards” him, pointing to a Feb. 2018 article that now has an editor’s note stating it had been “updated to more accurately reflect what Bongino said about the Parkland students.”

The lawsuit also pointed to a statement from NRA TV stating, “We made every attempt to retain [Bongino] in 2019” and criticizing “several dishonest members of the media” for having “jumped on false rumors fed by those who want to weaken the Second Amendment and hurt the voice of gun owners.”

iMediaEthics has written to Bongino and the Daily Beast.