The Kid Mero and Kazeem ripped into the Hot 97 owners live on air Wednesday, less than a year after Mero was brought in to take over the morning slot Ebro Darden held for over a decade.
Kazeem did not hold back. He called Hot 97 “the worst place I’ve ever worked in my life” and blamed the Hot 97 owners for the drop in quality of what goes out over the air. Mero agreed with him and took aim at leadership, saying even the best team can’t win when the executives above them fail to do their jobs. As of Saturday, neither host appears to have left the station.
Former Hot 97 producer Scottie Beam then weighed in on what might be fueling the frustration. On Threads, she alleged that the station has furloughed every DJ, meaning they have been sent home without pay, and that the owners have stopped paying rent on the building. Hot 97 has not publicly responded, and her claims have not been confirmed.
Peter Rosenberg added his voice too. “All they do is let people go,” he said, as shows get canceled and familiar DJs disappear from the lineup.
Mero’s show exists because of the last time Hot 97 talent went public against ownership. Ebro in the Morning, the show Ebro hosted with Laura Stylez and Rosenberg, ended in December 2025 after running since 2012. On the way out, Ebro pointed directly at the owners of MediaCo, the company that owns Hot 97. Laura Stylez said at the time that the team had started recording remotely to avoid what she described as roach infested studios.
Hot 97 handed Mero the morning slot that same month. Now the man who replaced Ebro is saying much of the same thing, and Kazeem said on air that he understood the frustrations Ebro, Rosenberg and Laura Stylez voiced when they left.
For the station that helped build New York hip hop radio, the complaints about the Hot 97 owners are no longer coming only from people who walked out the door. They are coming from the people still holding the mic.