Rachel Maddow slams home network MSNBC for parting with hosts of color, Joy Reid: ‘Feels worse than bad’

Maddow also pointed out Katie Phang’s upcoming departure from her weekend slot in a rare rebuke of her own network’s “indefensible” actions, she said.

Joy Reid and Rachel Maddow. Credit:Virginia Sherwood/MSNBC via Getty

Prominent MSNBC broadcaster Rachel Maddow has slammed her home network amid the news organization parting ways with Joy Reid and her The ReidOut program.

On Monday night’s episode of her talk show, Maddow addressed the audience as she criticized MSNBC’s actions, following news that The ReidOut would air its final episode this week, with its 7 p.m. time slot being filled by a new panel show fronted by The Weekend hosts of color: Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez.

Maddow called Reid’s exit “hard to take” and said, “Personally, I think it is a bad mistake to let her walk out the door” on the network’s part.

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She also called it “unnerving” that the network is parting ways with “two non-white hosts in primetime” and that it “feels worse than bad, no matter who replaces them.” She also called it “indefensible,” and indicated that she wouldn’t defend the network’s actions as a result.

Maddow continued, alleging that behind-the-scenes staffers are being “put through the wringer” and “facing being laid off” while also being “invited to reapply for new jobs” which is allegedly causing them a great deal of stress and anxiety as they work. She added that it’s “not the right way to treat people” who work for the channel.

“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 already extra stressful and difficult,” Maddow said. She also stressed that viewers would still get quality programming from MSNBC thanks to her “great colleagues” who are “great at what they do” for the network.

Joy Reid.William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC Newswire/NBCUniversal via Getty

Maddow also pointed out that MSNBC’s Katie Phang’s show was impacted by the network shuffle, though a source familiar with the situation tells Entertainment Weekly that Phang will remain with the network as a legal correspondent. However, the channel is no longer broadcasting from Miami, which is where The Katie Phang Show was based.

The source also tells EW that there are no widespread layoffs at MSNBC, but rather some positions are being reallocated to support new programming and that new roles will reportedly not be posted externally before internal figures have a chance to reapply.

When reached by EW, a representative for MSNBC declined to comment.

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Reid first hosted The Reid Report between 2014-2015, followed by her morning talk show AM Joy, which ran from 2016-2020, before joining her primetime slot with The ReidOut in 2020.

Other shifts this week included an NBC Nightly News shakeup, with Lester Holt stepping down as anchor before pivoting into a full-time role as the lead presenter of Dateline NBC.

In January, Maddow took over Alex Wagner’s 9 p.m. weeknight slot for the first 100 days of Trump’s administration. MSNBC initially said that Wagner would return with Alex Wagner Tonight in April, though that is no longer happening — but, Wagner will shift into an analyst role, and a new anchor will take the spot (Jen Psaki, ex-White House press secretary for Joe Biden, is being considered).