MSNBC’S Joy Reid has broken her silence with a defiant message after she was abruptly fired from the ailing network on Sunday.
Reid is signing off for the last time amid plunging ratings just one day after a leaked recording captured the network’s president letting her entire staff go.
In a social media post, Reid, who has been an anchor on the network since 2014, opened up about the shock firing and thanked her fans and coworkers for their support throughout the years.
“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,” she wrote.
“So very proud of The Reidout team, who are truly family, and all of our supporters and friends.
“See you tomorrow night at 7, one more time.”
News leaked that Reid was being let go over the weekend, and newly appointed network president Rebecca Kutler had to make a last-minute meeting on Sunday to put out the fire.
In tense audio of the virtual session, one outraged worker said seeing news stories about the layoffs was a “terrible, terrible way to learn about our fate,” Status reported.
Kutler apologized profusely to employees as they begged for a straight answer on what was going on.
One worker said, “So to make this explicitly clear, we are being terminated currently with the option to apply within the company, right?” before Kutler finally agreed.
The president said that over 100 jobs would be posted by the end of the week and encouraged the workers to apply.
After the announcement was made, some heartbroken fans blasted NBC Universal for letting Reid go.
“Love you, Joy. Wherever you are, I will follow. Big mistake by MSNBC. Huge,” said one fan.Meanwhile, other critics claimed that Reid was taken off the air because her show wasn’t good enough to keep on primetime.”Your show was full of hatred, misleading lies, and division. You should be ashamed of yourself,” said one angered viewer.It’s unclear who will permanently fill the 7 p.m. slot, but executives plan to bring a rotating cast of anchors until they find a solid plan.The three anchors taking over hosting duties for the primetime slot will be political commentator Symone Sanders Townsend, former chairman of the Republican National Committee Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez, the daughter of disgraced Senator Bob Menendez.
TV DRAMA
Reid is just the latest departure since MSNBC’s president Rashida Jones stepped down in January, sparking a massive network overhaul.Viewership has plummeted since Trump handily won the election in November, and executives are desperately scrambling to win back fans.In December, anchors were forced to take massive pay cuts to keep their jobs, and Reid reportedly took a huge chunk out of her $3 million a year salary.Earlier in November, primetime heavyweight Rachel Maddow had to slash $5 million from her salary back when she was only working one day a week.Now, Maddow has come back to full-time duties for Trump’s first 100 days in office.Meanwhile, another network darling, Andrea Mitchell, has stepped down from her anchoring duties after she was on camera for 17 years.Executives’ only hope is that outrage over Trump’s first moves in office will lead die-hard liberals back to their coverage.Meanwhile, inside sources have claimed that chaos over the Morning Joe hosts led to Maddow stepping back into full-time duties.
