đ„ Turmoil Erupts at MSNBC: Rachel Maddow Defies New Boss in Bold On-Air Rejection â What Happened Next Left the Network in Chaos
Rachel Maddow torched new MSNBC president on âindefensibleâ moves
MSNBCâs $25 million liberal icon Rachel Maddow torched new president Rebecca Kutler and the network brass Monday after they canceled Joy Reidâs show. The anchor appeared on the last episode of The ReidOut earlier in the evening, where she declared herself âbereftâ that Reid had been fired but didnât initially criticize the network. When Maddow â who was rumored to have taken a pay cut when signing her new contract at MSNBC â took to the airwaves later on, it was no-holds barred, with Maddow slamming the network for firing Reid and a slew of other ânon-whiteâ anchors.
âI do not want to lose her as a colleague here at MSNBC, and personally, I think it is a bad mistake to let her walk out the door. It is not my call and I understand that. But thatâs what I think,â Maddow said. She added: âI will tell you. It is also unnerving to see that on a network where weâve got two â count them â two nonwhite hosts in primetime, both of our nonwhite hosts in primetime are losing their shows, as is Katie Phang on the weekend. And that feels worse than bad, no matter who replaces them. That feels indefensible. And I do not defend it.â
Phang (pictured left), Jonathan Capehart and Ayman Mohyeldin have also been given the boot from their current timeslots by ruthless new boss Kutler. Maddow did praise whomever would replace Reid, which is reported to be Alicia Menendez, Symone Sanders Townsend and Michael Steele in the interim. âEverybody whoâs going to be in anchor chairs from here on out are great colleagues and great at what they do. And you are not going to be disappointed in whoâs on our air and what youâre going to be seeing,â she said. Still, she had more unkind words for the network for how they were treating Reidâs staffers.
âDozens of producers and staffers, including some who are among the most experienced and most talented and most specialist producers in the building are facing being laid off,â she said. âTheyâre being invited to reapply for new jobs.â Maddow called that unprecedented in the history of the network and added that âitâs not the right way to treat people. And itâs inefficient and itâs unnecessary, and it kind of drops the bottom out of whether or not people feel like this is a good place to work.â DailyMail.com has reached out to MSNBC for comment.
Reid wept as she broke her silence Sunday after being fired from the network on a podcast. She clarified that she was ânot sorryâ despite the cancellation of The Reid Out as MSNBC looks to restructure its programming. Trump blasted the network as losers, calling MSNBC head Brian Roberts a âLowlife Chairmanâ while branding Reid a âmentally obnoxious racist.â Reid was more composed on her final broadcast Monday but made sure to equate Trumpism with fascism before gathering what she called her âsuperfriendsâ of fellow anchors from the struggling network. She held a summit with Rachel Maddow, Lawrence OâDonnell and Nicole Wallace, all of whom praised Reid and expressed how sad they were that the show was ending but refused to criticize their bosses. âI love you Joy and I am bereft that the ReidOut is ending. I canât get beyond that,â the networkâs star said from a Zoom camera.
Reid returned the praise and perhaps suggested Maddow had fought for her to stay with the networkâs lineup. âNo one fights harder for us in this company than Rachel Maddow,â she said. Nicole Wallace came the closest to dig at MSNBC when she said that she felt âdespairâ at Reidâs cancelation and that âdespair is the autocratâs tool.â âI love you, the happiest times Iâve had ever being on television have been sitting next to the two of you and that I thought things like that on TV couldnât be real but the friendships that have sustained me have been with both of you. It feels like losing a limb,â she added.
OâDonnell added a simple message: âThank you Joy, for everything youâve taught us. I have more to learn from you, I plan on haunting you for the rest of your days,â quipped Reid, who then joked about her fascination with ghosts. The theme of the entire show was to show her viewers how to âfight back, never stop resistingâ in her showâs absence. âFascism isnât just coming, itâs already here,â Reid said. âYou donât always win every battle but the whole thing is about resisting.â
She spent the show criticizing Elon Muskâs infamous DOGE email and the cuts made to the civil service. âTonight, on our final Reid Out, we are going to talk about what people are actually doing to resist this.â Reid ended her show by thanking her staff and employees, saying: âThe ReidOut worked because everyone put their whole heart into it.â The entire staff was seen on camera, waiving goodbye as Reid finished the show and handed off to Jen Psaki. âI wanna thank [Joy] because sheâs done amazing work, she tells stories no one tells. But also for the person that she is,â added Psaki, a former White House Press Secretary who has since attached on to the network.
The Reid Out was canceled amid tanking ratings â a decision leaked early Sunday and confirmed by her bosses just hours later. Katie Phang, Jonathan Capehart and Ayman Mohyeldin have also reportedly been given the boot from their current timeslots, the New York Post reported. Fellow NBCU asset NBC News further confirmed Monday that Lester Holt was also leaving his iconic Nightly News gig . Sundayâs meeting quickly grew âtense and emotionalâ, according to Status News, after The Reid Out was dumped because of poor ratings. During the meeting, some of the angry employees demanded answers about why the show was cancelled and what it meant for their futures at MSNBC.
Kutler insisted Donald Trump was not a factor in the decision and the networkâs changes were made based on âdata analysis and programming strategyâ that she believes will âbest position MNSBC for the year ahead.â She said the showâs cancellation was part of a âbroader slate of programming changes that will be laid outâ on Monday. The showâs staffers reportedly expressed âfrustration and disbeliefâ that they learned of the showâs fate through media reports and not the networkâs leadership. Kutler confirmed the showâs staff has been terminated but will be paid until April and receive severance. Reid is among MSNBCâs highest profile faces and is known for her hard left takes on social and political issues. Amid a looming landscape of languishing cable and legacy news stations, MSNBC had their lowest-rated January in history in the highly sought 25-54 demographic. The statistic holds importance to advertisers due to the groupâs spending power and the fact that it pertains to both daytime and primetime. During the hours of 8-11 p.m. ET, MSNBC barely managed an audience of 734,000, with CNN securing just 522,000.
This all occurred during a hectic news cycle that featured coverage of Justin Trudeauâs resignation, Trumpâs inauguration and the controversy surrounding the presidentâs parade of appointments and pardons. Talking heads ranging from Jake Tapper to Joy Reid failed to stop the bleeding â as did a move from MSNBC that brought back Rachel Maddow to TV sets five times a week, at least for the first 100 days of the new administration. MSNBC lagged to just 45,000 viewers during the day and just 63,000 during the peak hours of night â with the Maddow experiment seemingly failing.
In terms of percentages, though, the figures were even more alarming; MSNBC essentially lost nearly half of its 25-54 audience since this time last year, continuing a 65 percent slide seen since the election. In primetime, the networkâs numbers are down 41 percent from 2024. When it came to programming delivered during the day, the percentage dip was the same. Given the timing and recent events surrounding, the new Nielsen numbers appear to show that relationship continuing in spades, with Fox seemingly set to widen that gap even more.
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