Joy Reid is leaving MSNBC as the network cancels her evening show
Joy Reid speaks during the during the TIME 100 Summit, April 23, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Joy Reid is leaving MSNBC, the network’s new president announced in a memo to staff on Monday, marking an end to the prime time show hosted by the progressive political analyst and broadcast news anchor.
Reid’s namesake show, “The ReidOut,” has been a fixture of MSNBC’s evening programming since 2020. In the hourlong newscast, held on weeknights at 7 p.m. E.T., Reid conducts interviews with politicians and other newsmakers — diving into an extensive array of political issues and intersections between race, culture and social justice.
Reports about MSNBC cancelling “The ReidOut” emerged online over the weekend, sparking outrage from supporters of the show, who point to the impact it’s had on elevating historically marginalized voices in today’s media landscape. MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler later confirmed Reid’s departure on Monday afternoon in a memo to staff, viewed by The Associated Press.
“Joy Reid is leaving the network and we thank her for her countless contributions over the years,” Kutler wrote.
In the coming weeks, rotating anchors will host Reid’s hour, Kutler added. Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez — who currently serve as hosts of “The Weekend,” another MSNBC program — will later move to weekdays at 7 p.m. to host a new ensemble news program, per the staff memo.
Prior to Kutler’s memo, Reid also took to social media to thank those who she said had reached out to her with messages of support over the weekend.
“I just want to say thank you to everyone who has reached out with kindness and encouragement, both personally and in these social media streets,” Reid wrote in a message posted to BlueSky and Instagram just after midnight — adding that she was “so very proud” of “The ReidOut” team.
Late Sunday, Reid also joined a call streamed on YouTube with Win With Black Women — sharing that Monday would be her final show. She told the group that she had “been through every emotion” since learning the news, including anger and disappointment, but “where I’ve landed on today is just gratitude.”
“My show had value,” she said on the call, listing the range of topics her team tackled each day. “Whether it was the Black Lives Matter issues … (or) talking about Gaza and the fact that we as the American people have … a right to object to little babies being bombed … I am not sorry that I stood up for those things.”
Over the years, Reid has been recognized with numerous accolades for her work. Most recently, she won two NAACP Image Awards over the weekend — including for “The ReidOut” as an outstanding news series, as well as for outstanding literary work for her biography “Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America.”
The cancellation of “The ReidOut” isn’t the only programming change on the horizon for MSNBC. In Monday’s staff memo, Kutler also pointed to several other updates to both the weekday and weekend lineup — most of which are set to go into effect in late April.
They include moving Jen Psaki to the 9 p.m. primetime hour for Tuesdays through Fridays and ending Alex Wagner’s current nighttime spot. Wagner will stay with the network as a senior political analyst, per Monday’s memo. And Rachel Maddow’s namesake show will return to Mondays at 9 p.m. following the first 100 days of the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, as MSNBC works to consolidate broadcast locations to New York and Washington, D.C., the network is also planning to end operations in Miami — in a move that will impact shows like “José Díaz-Balart Reports” and “The Katie Phang Show.” Díaz-Balart will stay with NBC News as anchor of “Weekend Nightly News,” the staff memo notes, while Phang will remain with MSNBC as a legal correspondent.
“In the years ahead, we must continue to show up for our audiences in this critical moment while simultaneously best positioning ourselves for the future,” Kutler wrote Monday — adding she had hoped to share such changes with staff directly and “understand the frustration that you first learned about this over the weekend and not from me.”
Kutler, a former CNN executive who joined MSNBC in 2022, was officially MSNBC president on Feb. 12 — just weeks into serving under an interim capacity after former network head Rashida Jones announced that she would be stepping down last month.
The leadership and programming shakeup also arrives amid a corporate ownership transition. MSNBC is set to no longer have any corporate connection to NBC News once a spinoff formally takes effect later this year.
Also on Monday, NBC veteran Lester Holt announced that he would be stepping down as anchor of the network’s flagship “Nightly News” broadcast by early summer — to expand his role in “Dateline” programming.
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Rachel Maddow staff to be let go as part of MSNBC overhaul
News comes as leading network star criticizes management for decision to cancel shows hosted by non-white anchors
MSNBC has told the majority of the employees who produce Rachel Maddow and Joy Reid’s prime-time evening news shows they are being let go as part of the network’s programming overhaul with the option to apply for new roles, according to two people directly familiar with the matter.
Maddow is currently hosting five nights a week for the first 100 days of the Trump administration, but when she returns to Mondays only and the programming shake-up takes effect on 21 April, Jen Psaki, the former Biden White House press secretary, will take over the Tuesday-to-Friday slot.
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MSNBC bloodbath hits Rachel Maddow staffers in major overhaul that has claimed Joy Reid, Alex Wagner shows: report
MSNBC has reportedly informed a majority of staffers who work on Rachel Maddow’s primetime opinion show that they are being let go as part of the network’s restructuring that resulted in the cancellation of Joy Reid’s program as well as those of other hosts.
The Comcast-owned, left-leaning channel told Maddow staffers, who also worked on the other canceled shows including “Alex Wagner Tonight,” that they have the option of applying for new roles at the network or accepting a severance payout, according to the news site Guardian.
Maddow, MSNBC’s most prominent anchor and top-rated host, will retain her executive producer, Cory Gnazzo, along with several senior producers, the Guardian reported.
However, the rest of her team, along with producers from other recently canceled shows — including those hosted by Alex Wagner, Katie Phang, Jonathan Capehart, Ayman Mohyeldin and José Díaz-Balart — will need to find new jobs either within the network or at a different company, according to the report.
A network insider reached by The Post denied that the move constituted layoffs. The network insists that the shakeup was a reallocation of resources to support the network’s evolving priorities, according to the source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The network source told The Post that affected employees will have the first opportunity to apply for the newly available positions before any roles are opened to external candidates.
Despite these reassurances, the manner in which the changes are being implemented — requiring employees to reapply for jobs they already held — has raised concerns, the Guardian reported.
Historically, MSNBC has found ways to redistribute staff without cutting positions outright when canceling programs.
This approach marks a notable departure from previous practices and comes at a challenging time for the cable news industry at large.
The restructuring coincides with broader financial pressures at MSNBC, which is being spun off from parent company NBCUniversal.
The network is searching for cost-saving measures, mirroring CNN’s recent move to lay off 200 employees under its new chief executive, Mark Thompson, who has been aggressively pushing for a stronger digital strategy.
Sources in Washington, DC, have privately voiced concerns that the new roles MSNBC is posting may predominantly be based in New York, where union-negotiated hourly pay rates are reportedly lower.
Employees worry that accepting new positions may require relocation, further complicating their employment status.
The uncertainty surrounding the changes has left many staffers on edge.
Over the weekend, Oliver Darcy’s Status newsletter reported that a staff member from Reid’s show confronted MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler about the fate of the program’s employees.
According to the report, Kutler confirmed the layoffs but assured the team that affected employees would remain on the payroll until April and receive severance packages.
Kutler also sought to soften concerns by stating that more than 100 new positions would be posted within the week, encouraging staff members to apply.
She added that in six months’ time, MSNBC would have more employees than it does currently, an assertion intended to project long-term stability despite the current upheaval.
While Reid is no longer an employee of the network, the other hosts — Wagner, Phang, Capehart, Mohyeldin and Díaz-Balart — will either host shows at different time slots or be reassigned to new roles within the MSNBC ecosystem, the network said earlier this week.
Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele and Alicia Menendez, current hosts of “The Weekend,” will move to weekdays at 7 p.m. to host a new ensemble news hour — replacing Reid’s “The ReidOut.”
On Monday night, Maddow blasted the network’s recent decisions during a monologue on her show — implying that her bosses were racist in letting go Reid, who is black, and demoting Wagner, whose mother is Burmese.
“There is no colleague for whom I have had more affection and more respect than Joy Reid,” Maddow said during her Monday monologue.
“I love everything about her. I have learned so much from her. I have so much more to learn from her. I do not want to lose her as a colleague here at MSNBC.”
Maddow continued: “And, personally, I think it is a bad mistake to let her walk out the door. It is not my call, and I understand that.”
“But that’s what I think.”
Maddow noted that it was “unnerving” that MSNBC management axed “both of our non-white hosts in prime time” as well as Phang’s show, which has aired on weekends.
While Maddow did not explicitly mention the layoffs, her remarks were widely interpreted as criticism of the programming shakeup and the treatment of affected staff members.
The decision to part ways with Maddow’s team stems from the structure of her production staff, which had been split between her show and Wagner’s program.
This arrangement was established when Maddow reduced her on-air schedule to hosting only on Mondays while Wagner took over Tuesday through Friday.
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However, Maddow is temporarily hosting five nights a week for the first 100 days of the Trump administration.
The plan is for Maddow to resume her once-a-week schedule beginning on April 21. The remaining 9 p.m. shows from Tuesday through Friday will then be hosted by Jen Psaki, the onetime Biden White House press secretary.
An MSNBC spokesperson declined to comment.
