After their contentious split from The Joe Budden Podcast in May, many assumed co-hosts Rory Farrell and Jamil “Mal” Clay would either dissolve into thin air or return to whatever nebulous outside endeavors occupied their time. But because God is great all the time—except for when he took an extended vacation during Trump’s entire presidency—not only are Budden’s former friends thriving, but they’ve reportedly locked in a new podcast deal with Stitcher worth a rumored $10 million.
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The irony is that Rory and Mal were fired from The Joe Budden Podcast over a financial dispute, but clearly, money will be the least of their worries moving forward. Let’s just hope they’ve learned from their past mistakes and the lines are no longer blurred between business partnership, being an employee, and friendship.
From Vulture:
Cut to the present, and both parties have long gone their separate ways. Budden continues to host The Joe Budden Podcast, though the show is no longer available on Spotify. Meanwhile, Clay and Farrell independently launched their own podcast, New Rory and Mal, back in July, which has been publishing new episodes weekly.
Today, the former co-hosts are making another announcement: They have signed with SiriusXM’s Stitcher, and the show will now be released through Stitcher’s new More Sauce label. The first episode under the new arrangement is scheduled to drop on November 2, with new installments every Tuesday and Friday.
In an exclusive interview with Vulture, Rory and Mal revealed that not only will they retain 100 percent ownership with their new deal, but explained why a partnership with Stitcher was ideal.
“I mean, Stitcher made the most sense out of the whole group,” Rory said. “Outside of them, we met with almost everybody, and we met a lot of people that were just trying to get their footing into the podcast world, which wouldn’t have been a great partnership. With a lot of other outlets, it felt like we were going to push them to the next level, not the other way around.”
“There were other offers with more money on the table, but they didn’t align with what we were trying to do,” Mal said. “We just didn’t feel the same connection with those other people.”
In addition to the audio component that has been their bread and butter for so long, the two also expressed their desire to “add some new elements” into a podcasting industry they feel has grown “pretty stagnant” and “oversaturated.” To that end, aside from rolling out more live events in 2022, they’ll incorporate a new approach that they expect will resonate with the massive audience they’ve cultivated throughout the years.
“We wanted to add different sketch elements to it, different types of interviews, different types of people that would be on these podcasts,” Rory said. “Our fan base has really gravitated toward the sketch stuff and the other things we’ve been adding.”
There’s no better feeling than coming out of an ugly situation with an even better opportunity, so congrats to both of these guys for putting in the work and getting to the bag. And for those that wonder if they’ve spoken to Budden since the split, the answer is a resounding “no.”
“I haven’t seen or spoken to him since my last day at the studio,” Mal said. “I’m happy it went that way because if I had seen him or run into him, it would have been bad news.”
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