‘I was on disability and they fired me,’ longtime WBFO reporter Mike Desmond says

He covered the Love Canal environmental disaster in the late 1970s.

He also took a 39-second video in 2020 that went viral and drew millions of views of a then 75-year-old Martin Gugino being pushed to the ground by a police officer outside City Hall during a Black Lives Matter protest.

Now the 78-year-old Desmond is back in the news because of how his run at WBFO-FM ended.

After 34 years working at the public radio station, Desmond said he was told he was out of a job in March while he was on disability for three months after an accident off the job in a local restaurant.

And he said he found out he was let go by his health insurance provider.

Desmond’s side of the story is the only one available because a WBFO spokesperson emailed twice that the organization doesn’t comment on personnel matters.

The spokesperson made the comment a second time after being reminded that WBFO is part of a public broadcasting company, Buffalo Toronto Public Media, supported by its listeners – and viewers of WNED-TV – and the public deserves an explanation.

Tom Calderone, president and CEO of Buffalo Toronto Public Media, has not returned multiple phone calls.

Desmond, who went on disability in December, said in his familiar and distinctive voice that he is still healing from his injuries after the fall at the restaurant.

“I was on disability and they fired me,” he said. “I was in pretty bad shape for a while. I mean, I had broken bones in my back and so forth.”

He added that he was injured off the job and was told by his lawyer, Kevin Walsh of Niagara Falls, that his firing was legal. Desmond learned that a clause in his contract allowed him to be terminated after 90 days.

He said his last day working his night and weekend shifts was Dec. 2. He said he was fired in March and remains on disability.

And no one told him why he was let go.