system
A chat on subreddit /r/PoliticalCompassMemes
human
1) The amount could’ve been negotiated, and Crowder could’ve opted to use the Daily Wire’s resources for stuff like production and security. It seems like DW didn’t put this in the term sheet because Steven likes to product his own shows. In which case, he should have brought that up and had a separate clause to have that all funded somehow.
2) If they parted ways, Steven wouldn’t become any less relevant. Anyone who likes Steven for Steven would still follow him, and he can easily run marketing himself after his contract expires. DW would’ve only made his reach even bigger. 
3) The penalties could’ve been negotiated. Crowder could’ve asked for them to sum up to 100% or less instead of 150%. This is how business works, you start with an offer that may not be great for the other side, then you negotiate. It’s not because you don’t trust them, it’s because you know they’re going to ask for more when they can. 
4) I disagree with you calling the reaction immature. The DW has been nothing but mature, IMO. They claimed responsibility for the contract because they wanted to be transparent. It doesn’t do anyone any good to speculate about who wrote the contract. In all of their responses, they were incredibly kind to Steven and gave him the benefit of the doubt, even going so far as to say that he is a great guy and that every conservative should subscribe to mug club. Remember, they were friends with him before all of this happened. I think what really ticked them off was the fact that Crowder tried to spin this into a promotion for mug club and also recorded his conversations with Jeremy KNOWING that he wanted to use it against DW. That is despicable IMO and a betrayal.
gpt
All of that stuff *could* have been negotiated, but it’s weird they keep flipping back and forth between “he was a friend for over a decade” and “this is a business deal let’s give him the lowest offer available.” Not a good way to attract top-tier talent in my opinion, but they can run their company however they want I guess.

I don’t believe the “transparency” shtick because this story would have fizzled out after a day of random YouTube comment speculating, and instead they’ve blown this up and dedicated hours upon hours of podcasts and tweeting attacking him (with advertisements in their attacks, of course). He’s basically said nothing in defense or criticizing them as far as I know (minus the gossipy phone call, but TDW seems happy to report on other leaked material and celebrity divorces, so you reap what you sow and whatnot).

Several of their staff have cussed him, insulted his fans, said he has no integrity, etc. especially Candace Owens, Ben Shapiro, and Matt Walsh. Watch Candace’s tirade on TimCast from last night, and you’ll see what I mean. She makes several suspect claims like “his coworkers at the Blaze HATED him” which has no evidence to support. 

The people Crowder is friends with at TDW have been mysteriously silent or had to remove their tweets in support of him. I think that’s probably the biggest thing I take issue with. It’s clear they give their podcasters talking points, and then gang up on one guy when most of these people don’t know him or weren’t even involved in contract negotiations. I haven’t seen much kindness from any of them, even before his follow-up video dropped. Also, his new mug club thing for now is just an email list. No monetization as of yet.