MSBNC host Rachel Maddow shredded her network Monday for its “bad mistake” in canceling colleague Joy Reid’s show and “indefensible” removal of “non-white” hosts in or around prime time. (Watch the video below.)
Reid, who is Black, is departing the news network, while Alex Wagner, who is of Burmese descent, will reportedly be reassigned.
Maddow sounded off on the personnel moves after she and other colleagues said goodbye to Reid.
“I have so much more to learn from her,” Maddow said. “I 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 that’s what I think.”
Maddow continued, “It is also unnerving to see that on a network where we’ve got two ― count them ― two non-white hosts in primetime, both of our non-white 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.”
She then scolded her employer for the job loss of behind-the-scenes staff who would have to reapply for positions within the company.
“That has never happened at this scale in this way before when it comes to programming changes, presumably because it’s not the right way to treat people,” she said. “And it’s inefficient and it’s unnecessary, and it kind of drops the bottom out of whether or not people feel like this is a good place to work.”
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MSNBC recently announced a major overhaul of its schedule, which prompted controversy. Perhaps its most high-profile move was dropping Reid’s 7 p.m. show. It will be replaced with a program cohosted by Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez, all people of color.
Wagner has hosted part-time at 9 p.m. four nights a week since 2022, as Maddow anchored the spot on Mondays only. (Maddow has returned full-time during the first 100 days of Donald Trump’s presidency.) Jen Psaki will fill the rest of the week when Maddow returns to a Monday schedule in April.