Joy Reid floats speculation that her race, 'anxiety' surrounding Donald Trump played role in MSNBC firing

Sky News AU

3 days ago

Ex-MSNBC host Joy Reid spoke out about her show being canceled on Monday, speculating that her race and network "anxiety" surrounding President Donald Trump played a role in her ultimately being fired from the liberal network.
"I try not to speculate too much publicly because, again, I can't get inside the minds of other people. But I can tell you what other people have speculated about… There are lots of people at the network who are critical of Donald Trump. I mean, and they're still critical of him, I'm assuming, you know. So I don't think that's [it], but I do know there is a lot of anxiety both there and, I think, in every media. We're seeing it at CBS," she said, referring to Trump's lawsuit against the network over a "60 Minutes" interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Reid spoke with Katie Couric in a video posted on her Substack page and on her YouTube channel. Reid's MSNBC show was canceled earlier this year.
"We're seeing it at ABC, where allegedly 'The View' hosts were told not to go so hard on Trump. There's a push for people to, hey, do less Trump. Do more entertainment. Don't be hard on him," the former MSNBC host said, noting reporting that ABC's "The View" hosts were told to tone down their political discussions.
Couric pointed out that there was no difference between Reid and liberal hosts Nicolle Wallace or Rachel Maddow, to which Reid responded, "only in one way was I different. I'm a Black woman doing the thing."
"I think that there is a difference for Trump in hearing the kinds of criticisms specifically out of a Black woman, it bothers him in a way it doesn't bother him like anything else. He's got this sort of tick about race, you know, and about, sort of criticism coming specifically from a Black woman because we've seen him lay out and dish out real abuse against Black women journalists," Reid said during her conversation with Couric.
"I did a specific thing, which was, I tried to constantly unpack the racial history of the country, which is very much against the sort of Project 2025 thing. And it's something I can do in a certain capacity because of my background, because not only am I a Black woman, but I come from immigrant parents who come from what Donald Trump would consider s---hole countries, but that have a take on race that is different," Reid continued.
Reid's show was replaced with "The WeekNight", an ensemble program featuring former Kamala Harris spokesperson Symone Sanders-Townsend, Alicia Menendez, the daughter of disgraced former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, and Michael Steele, the former Republican National Committee chair who now staunchly opposes the GOP.
MSNBC's new lineup has struggled in its first month, with Psaki shedding half the audience her predecessors averaged in the same timeslot, and with its other new programming struggling to attract viewers.
MSNBC and ABC's "The View" did not immediately return requests for comment.
Reid said prior to her show's cancellation, she was told that her show was "down less" in ratings than any other MSNBC show, aside from Maddow's. Reid and her former primetime colleagues faced a major ratings decline after Trump won the election.
Her show, "The Reidout," shed 47% of its total audience, averaging just 759,000 viewers after averaging 1.4 million viewers throughout 2024 leading up to Election Day,
"Our show was down less than any other primetime show. We were down, other than Rachel Maddow, we were down the least. So we were just told that we were holding on pretty well. And, you know, it's not like the ratings have gotten better since I've been gone. So I can tell you, honestly, I even had my exit interview and no one has told me why I was fired. I have no idea," she said.
Reid said MSNBC's reasoning was "scripted" and "perfunctory," and explained that she had started being careful on social media.
"We were being very careful, and I was trying to be more careful about anything on social media, because I know there was a real anxiety about social media, very much an anxiety about anything on social media," she said. "I don't know, I genuinely was not told."
Fox News' Joseph Wulfsohn and Brian Flood contributed to this report.
Originally published as Joy Reid floats speculation that her race, 'anxiety' surrounding Donald Trump played role in MSNBC firing