MSNBC has silenced one of its own voices, Joy Reid, a fierce critic of President Donald Trump.
The liberal-leaning network has canceled Joy Reid’s show, “The ReidOut.” The New York Times broke the news Sunday, Feb. 23. Oliver Darcy, in his newsletter “Status,” reported that the staff of Reid’s show, whose members are being laid off but can reapply for jobs at the network, learned of the move from media reports.
The news, while surprising, is not exactly shocking — Puck had reported that there were changes afoot at MSNBC. Still, when a network dumps one of its primetime hosts, it’s a big change, and more changes are reportedly coming. Reid has drawn criticism for some of the things she’s said on the air (like comparing Trump surviving an assassination attempt to Joe Biden contracting COVID-19), but she was definitely one of the network’s stars.
What did Donald Trump say about Joy Reid’s departure?
If you’re wondering whether Trump even noticed, oh, he noticed. He called Reid a “mentally obnoxious racist” and said she “should have been ‘canned’ a long time ago, along with everyone else” at the network. It was part of a screed against Comcast, which owns MSNBC.
Speaking of obnoxious, Megyn Kelly, formerly of Fox News, formerly of NBC News, posted her own farewell to Reid on X: “Who’s crying now, Joy? Good riddance to the absolute worst person on television, and shame on NBC for letting it go on this long.”
Stay classy, Megyn.
More changes are on the horizon at MSNBC
It’s not the only change at the network. Alex Wagner, who hosted a primetime show on weeknights except for Mondays, when Rachel Maddow hosts, won’t return after Maddow finishes an every-night stint during the first 100 days of Trump’s second term. Reports say that Jen Psaki, Biden’s former White House press secretary, who has proved to be really good at TV during a Sunday show on MSNBC, is in line to take over at least one night a week in primetime.
News networks often make changes in the wake of a new presidential administration, but those moves are typically limited to moving journalists around to different beats or promoting them. For instance, MSNBC promoted Vaughn Hillyard to White House correspondent after the 2024 election.
But sometimes it’s more than that, like when Chris Stirewalt, the former political editor for Fox News, lost his job in the wake of Joe Biden’s win in 2020, amidst the wave of anger among conservatives and Donald Trump when the network correctly called Arizona for Biden.
Reid was a fierce critic of Donald Trump
Reid is far more high-profile than that. And while you aren’t likely to find anyone on MSNBC praising Trump among her replacements, Reid was among the most vocal of voices criticizing him — at a time when more and more media outlets are reluctant to do so.
This doesn’t mean Reid is gone because MSNBC is trying to please Trump. It’s just another win for him as he tries to silence criticism among the media.
“This whole corrupt operation is nothing more than an illegal arm of the Democrat Party,” he posted on his Truth Social platform. “They should be forced to pay vast sums of money for the damage they’ve done to our Country. Fake News is an UNPARDONABLE SIN!” He’d know.
In a post on BlueSky, Reid thanked viewers and supporters and said she would see them Monday night “one more time.”
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why did MSNBC fire Joy Reid? Trump’s sure happy | Opinion
