Rachel Maddow criticized MSNBC for its cancellation of Joy Reid‘s show, telling viewers that it was a “bad mistake” that her network bosses let her go.
Maddow, the top rated personality at MSNBC, also noted that the network was dropping the two non-white anchors in primetime, with Alex Wagner also losing her show in addition to Reid.
“In all of the jobs I have had in all of the years I have been alove, there is no colleague for whom I have had more affection and more respect that Joy Reid,” Maddow told viewers. “I love everything about her. I have learned so much 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.”
She also said it was “unnerving” that “both of our non white hosts in primetime are losing their shows, as is Katie Phang on the weekend.”
Maddow said that “feels worse than bad, no matter who replaces them. That feels indefensible, and I do not defend it.”
Maddow went on to criticize the way that the show cancellations were handled, with dozens of off-air staffers like producers and writers “being put through the ringer” and 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 is not the right way to treat people, and it’s inefficient and it’s unnecessary.”
“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 the discombobulation is off the charts, at a time when this job is extra stressful and difficult.”
Reid show is being replaced by a program hosted by Symone Sanders Townsend and Michael Steele, who are Black, and Alicia Menendez, a Latina.
Maddow appeared earlier in the evening on Reid’s final show, telling her that she was “bereft” that the show was ending.
Maddow has criticized network decisions before, including over the decision by NBC News last year to hire former Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel as an analyst. Amid the internal outcry, the decision was reversed.
Maddow told viewers tonight, “This is a difficult time in the news business, but it does not need to be this difficult. We welcome new voices to this place and some familiar voices to new hours. It’s going to be great, honestly. We want to grow and succeed and reach more people than ever and be able to resilient and stay here forever. I also believe, and I believe that you believe the way to get there is by treating people well. Finding good people, good colleagues, doing good work with them, and then having their back. That we could do a lot better on.”