Keith Olbermann Accuses MSNBC Of ‘Racist Purge’ Over Reid

Keith Olbermann has accused his former network MSNBC of a “racist purge” after the cancellation of Joy Reid’s primetime show.

In a series of X posts, Olbermann took issue with the ouster of Reid, as well as shows from Jonathan Capehart, Alex Wagner, Katie Phang, and Ayman Mohyeldin.

Olbermann, who hosted an MSNBC show from 2003 to 2011, called the cancellations “so brutally racist you would think” Elon Musk did it. The changes are part of a larger restructuring at the network.

“Now 5 different anchors of color dismissed/canceled. An MSNBC purge so brutally racist it makes you think it was done by Musk. Joy Reid, Wagner; now Katie Phang, Jonathan Capehart, Ayman Mohyeldin,” Olbermann wrote.

Phang is remaining at the network as a legal correspondent and Wagner is also staying as a senior political analyst. Along with the show cancellations, MSNBC is also moving Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez (all regularly on weekends) to weekday primetime. Menendez is the first Latina to host in the network’s primetime.

Olbermann sent a warning to other MSNBC hosts like Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, and Lawrence O’Donnell, telling each they need to protest the dismissals “or you are all Joe Scarborough.” Olbermann was one of a number of critics to blast Scarborough over his visit to Mar-a-Lago and President Donald Trump following the 2024 presidential election.

“Dear [Rachel Maddow], If you go on the air tonight — or at minimum go on without condemning the overt racism of the people who give you $25 million a year — you are complicit. Same for you [Lawrence O’Donnell] and [Chris Hayes],” he wrote.”

Maddow did end up going on air and blasting her own network, calling recent moves by MSNBC “indefensible.” O’Donnell also said the Reid decision at his network make “absolutely no sense.”

“It is also unnerving to see that on a network where we’ve got two – count them – 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,” she said.