MSNBC is making major lineup changes after new President Rebecca Kutler takes over the reins, with Joy Reid exiting the network. It appears as if the network doesn’t have the endorsement of longtime staple Rachel Maddow.
During her primetime show on Monday, The Rachel Maddow Show host addressed Reid’s departure. In her comments, she shared her admiration for her colleague.
“In all of the jobs I have had in all of the years I have been alive, there is no colleague for whom I have had more affection and more respect than Joy Reid,” Maddow said.
She continued by sharing her displeasure with the move.
“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,” said Maddow. “It is not my call and I understand that. But that’s what I think.”
The longtime MSNBC host then argued that the decision by her network to replace both Joy Reid and weekend host Katie Phang “feels worse than bad” and was “indefensible.”
“I do not defend it,” she concluded.
Reid had hosted her MSNBC program since 2020 after the departure of Chris Matthews from the network. Monday marked her final program in the 7 PM ET timeslot. She will be replaced by the hosts of The Weekend, which includes Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez. Joy Reid has shared that she is starting a Substack venture, which she pitched in her farewell message on Monday evening.
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