Axed MSNBC host Katie Phang reveals her next move
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Katie Phang (pictured) has launched a YouTube channel under a left-leaning media umbrella after she was canceled from MSNBC. The Katie Phang Show was one of several casualties brought on by a lineup shift implemented by new network boss Rebecca Kutler in early 2025.
Now, almost one month after her final show aired on the network, she has unveiled her new business venture - revealing she actually gave keen listeners a clue in her final MSNBC appearance. Phang will join the MeidasTouch media group with a brand new YouTube show titled Phang Unleashed. 'YouTube is the perfect place for Katie Unleashed,' the attorney and legal analyst wrote on X. 'We'll talk about the law, politics, and culture. You'll hear from trusted, familiar voices. And you'll hear from new voices with fresh takes. It's time we realize WE are the cavalry we've been waiting for,' she added.'
The revelation should have come as no surprise to longtime viewers after Phang teased the collaboration in her final on-air appearance. At the time, she said she would 'meet you where you are at places like Substack and YouTube with fellow truth tellers like MeidasTouch.' Phang has also launched a Substack account to go alongside her new show.
'When it came time for me to get out of mainstream media and find my way into the holy land of independent journalism, I could not think of a better place to be than [with] the guys at MeidasTouch,' she said in her first YouTube episde alongside MeidasTouch co-founder Ben Meiselas. In her second to last episode on air, an emotional Phang cried as she interviewed Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett.
Joy Reid, Jonathan Capehart and Ayman Mohyeldin also said goodbye to their programs as part of a strategic overhaul from higher-ups. Capehart and Mohyeldin will fill different roles on the network as well, with news shows being built around them. The same could not be said for Phang, who, like Reid, twisted the identity-politics knife while lamenting her situation after seeing her show pulled by her bosses.
'I was proud to platform more AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) voices than any other cable show ever,' Phang wrote in a pointed post to Instagram in February. 'Representation matters,' she concluded. 'I went hard on so many issues,' Reid complained separately, while weeping through her remarks on a Zoom call to supporters. 'Whether it was the Black Lives Matter, issues of a young baby or a mom or dad that was killed or when we opened up people's eyes to the fact that Asian Americans were being targeted, and not just Black folks. 'My show had value,' she insisted.
As for MSNBC, the picture has gone from bad to worse. In February 2021, MSNBC averaged a total of 1.4 million total viewers every hour throughout the entire day and an average of 2.9 million total viewers during only primetime hours. Today, those numbers have dwindled down to just roughly 600,000 and 1 million total viewers, respectively - a more than 50 percent decline on both ends.
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