MSNBC host Rachel Maddow is losing some of her production staff to job cuts and reassignments, following critical remarks she made about the network on-air late last month.
The struggling network announced a series of cuts to staff and programming in February, including axing host Joy Reid, long criticized for her overtly anti-white remarks. The ending of Reid’s show led Maddow to essentially accuse network bosses of racism.
“Personally, I think it is a bad mistake to let her walk out the door,” Maddow said during her on-air segment after Reid’s firing. “It is not my call and I understand that, but that’s what I think.
“It is also unnerving to see on a network where we’ve got two, 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,” she said.
Not long afterward, the network announced major staff cuts to Maddow’s show.
“Maddow, the biggest star and highest-rated anchor at MSNBC, will get to keep her executive producer, Cory Gnazzo, and several other senior producers,” The Guardian reported, citing inside sources.
“But the rest of Maddow’s team – along with producers who worked on the other cancelled shows, hosted by Katie Phang, Jonathan Capehart, Ayman Mohyeldin and José Díaz-Balart – have been given the option to claim severance or reapply for new roles at the network, the people said,” the outlet added.
Maddow is hosting five nights a week for the first 100 days of the Trump administration, but starting April 21, when she returns to her Monday-only schedule, former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki will take over the Tuesday-to-Friday slot.
Maddow also appeared to be sympathetic to the laid-off staff and hosts.
“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, 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, and so we don’t generally do things that way,” she said.
But former Fox News host-turned successful SiriusXM podcaster Megyn Kelly roasted Maddow for her hypocrisy in continuing to draw millions in salary from a network she claims is “racist.”
“Rachel Maddow got out there and tried to act like, oh, ‘I’m a woman of the working class, I’m here to represent the poor staffers who could lose their jobs now as a result of Joy Reid biting it,” Kelly said at an event hosted by niche political news site Semafor in a video posted to social media.
“And meanwhile, she’s collecting $25 million a year. She’s got multiple homes worth millions. You know what, why don’t you take a $2 million pay cut and save 10 of those jobs, if you feel that sad?” Kelly said.
“She won’t do it. She wants to seem virtuous and sanctimonious, but in fact, she’s only the latter, ’cause she won’t actually put any money on the line,” Kelly noted further, adding that Maddow “is one of the most annoying people on television. She oozes sanctimony and self-righteousness.”
“Well, if you really think that, then you should not be working there. Why don’t you take your $25 million salary and walk? Put your money where your mouth is. If you are really so disgusted with the ‘racism’ over at MSNBC, why do you want to work there?” Kelly said.
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