Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow has called out the network over its recent lineup changes, including the cancellation of Joy Reid’s show The ReidOut.
On Monday’s episode of The Rachel Maddow Show, Maddow shared her thoughts in a lengthy message to viewers.
“Joy Reid’s show The ReidOut ended tonight. And Joy is not taking a different job in the network. She is leaving the network altogether and that is very, very, very hard to take,” she said of the network fixture, whose namesake show first premiered in 2020.
“I am 51 years old. I have been gainfully employed since I was 12. And I have had so many different types of jobs you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. But in all the jobs that I have had, in all of the years I have been alive, there is no colleague for whom I have had more affection and more respect than Joy Reid. I love everything about her. I have learned so much from her. I have so much more to learn from her. 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.”
Rachel Maddow speaks at Harvard University on October 16, 2017, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and (inset) Joy Reid on July 7, 2024, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Rachel Maddow speaks at Harvard University on October 16, 2017, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and (inset) Joy Reid on July 7, 2024, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Paul Marotta/Getty Images; Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for ESSENCE
Newsweek reached out to MSNBC and Reid’s representative via email for comment.
Maddow continued: “I will tell you, it is also unnerving to see that on a network where we’ve got two—count them, two—non-white hosts in prime time, both of our non-white hosts in prime time 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.”
Read more MAGA mocks Rachel Maddow for on-air rebuke of her MSNBC bosses MAGA mocks Rachel Maddow for on-air rebuke of her MSNBC bosses
The ReidOut’s cancellation comes on the heels of new MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler taking leadership of the liberal-leaning network. According to the Associated Press, Reid’s exit was announced in a memo to staff on Monday. Symone Sanders-Townsend, Michael Steele and Alicia Menendez will transition to Reid’s 7 p.m. ET time slot.
Other changes include Jonathan Capehart and Ayman Mohyeldin losing their weekend shows. Instead, Capehart and Mohyeldin will co-anchor the morning edition and the evening edition of The Weekend, respectively. Phang, meanwhile, will remain as a legal correspondent at MSNBC, but without an anchor slot.
Maddow added that “dozens of producers and staffers” are “being put through the ringer,” noting that the “the most experienced and most talented” are “facing being laid off.”
“They’re being invited to reapply for new jobs. 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,” the political commentator said. “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. So we don’t generally do things that way. Maybe all of our folks, including most of the people who are getting this very show on the air right now—maybe they will all get new jobs here—and I hope they do, but in the meantime, being put in this kind of limbo, the anxiety and discombobulation, is off the charts.”
On Monday, Reid seemingly confirmed her show had been canceled. “I just want to say thank you to everyone who has reached out with kindness and encouragement, both personally and in these social media streets,” she wrote on Bluesky. “So very proud of The Reidout team, who are truly family, and all of our supporters & friends. See you tomorrow night at 7, one more time.”
Reid’s commentary was often criticized by Republicans and President Donald Trump. In July, she sent a message to Democrats via TikTok to keep “Hitler out of the White House.”
Amid news of MSNBC’s shakeup, Trump took to Truth Social to share a message to his followers, calling Reid “one of the least talented people in television.”
“Based on her ratings, which were virtually non-existent, she should have been ‘canned’ long ago, along with everyone else who works there,” he said.
Trump also took aim at Maddow, saying: “Rachel rarely shows up because she knows there’s nobody watching, and she also knows that she’s got less television persona than virtually anyone on television except, perhaps, Joy Reid.”