MSNBC parted ways with Joy Reid earlier this week. Rachel Maddow believes it is partially motivated by race, but Clay Travis disagrees.
During his digital video program with the outlet he founded, OutKick, Clay Travis argued that Maddow has misplaced her anger and frustration over Reid’s departure from MSNBC.
“If Rachel Maddow thinks MSNBC is racist, she can resign and insist that a minority be hired to replace her,” Travis said. “She makes $25 million a year. She can go to her bosses at MSNBC and say, ‘Hey, I’ll take $5 million a year. I want you to give my other $20 million in salary to minority employees that I don’t think are respected enough by the bosses here.’ Have I missed that? Has Rachel Maddow offered to pay Joy Reid any of her salary? Has she offered to give up her job so that a more deserving minority newscaster could have her television salary and her television spot? I must be missing that.”
He then shared his belief that Reid lost her show with MSNBC due to ratings, which is the name of the game in the media world.
“The reason why Joy Reid got fired is not because she’s a moron and it’s not because her takes against Trump are awful, ill-advised, unintelligent, and lacking in any substance. It’s because nobody watched,” continued Travis. “She could have had the same awful show, and if she had the audience that Laura Ingraham did, not only would she have kept her show, she would have gotten a raise.
“It’s easy to kick and scream and blame others for why you failed. It’s easy to cry — as Joy Reid did — at the cancelation of her show. And it’s easy for Rachel Maddow to sit back and say this is about racism. But the reality is, this is about viewership. Joy Reid is in the business of drawing viewers and nobody watched her show. When nobody watches your show, or when nobody listens to your show, you’re eventually going to get fired. That’s the hard truth, whether you’re doing local radio, like I did back in the day in Nashville, or whether you’re doing a national television show. Ratings, ratings, ratings. It is the scoreboard. It is the entirety of the business.”
Travis concluded by stating that he believes Reid’s run in the spotlight is likely over.
“Rachel Maddow said it’s racism. It’s just Joy Reid doesn’t have much of an audience at all, and it’s continuing to decline instead of growing. I think her career is basically over. She got an opportunity for five years to convince Americans that they should be watching her, and she failed, and now she’s out on her ass. That’s life in media.”
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