Rachel Maddow slams home network MSNBC for parting with hosts of color, Joy Reid: โ€˜Feels worse than badโ€™

Rachel Maddow Speaks Out About Joy Reid's MSNBC Axing

Maddow also pointed out Katie Phangโ€™s upcoming departure from her weekend slot in a rare rebuke of her own networkโ€™s โ€œindefensibleโ€ actions, she said.

Prominentย MSNBCย broadcasterย Rachel Maddowย has slammed her home network amid the news organizationย parting ways with Joy Reid and herย The ReidOutย program.

On Monday nightโ€™s episode of her talk show, Maddow addressed the audience as she criticized MSNBCโ€™s actions, following news thatย The ReidOutย would air its final episode this week, with its 7 p.m. time slot being filled by a new panel show fronted byย The Weekendย hostsย of color:ย Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez.

Maddow called Reidโ€™s exit โ€œhard to takeโ€ and said, โ€œPersonally, I think it is a bad mistake to let her walk out the doorโ€ on the networkโ€™s part.

Rachel Maddow 'cries racism' at MSNBC for axing Joy Reid - YouTube

She also called it โ€œunnervingโ€ that the network is parting ways with โ€œtwo non-white hosts in primetimeโ€ and that it โ€œfeels worse than bad, no matter who replaces them.โ€ She also called it โ€œindefensible,โ€ and indicated that she wouldnโ€™t defend the networkโ€™s actions as a result.

Maddow continued, alleging that behind-the-scenes staffers are being โ€œput through the wringerโ€ and โ€œfacing being laid offโ€ while also being โ€œinvited to reapply for new jobsโ€ which is allegedly causing them a great deal of stress and anxiety as they work. She added that itโ€™s โ€œnot the right way to treat peopleโ€ who work for the channel.

โ€œIn the meantime, being put in this kind of limbo, the anxiety and the discombobulation is off the charts, at a time when this job is already extra stressful and difficult,โ€ Maddow said. She also stressed that viewers would still get quality programming from MSNBC thanks to her โ€œgreat colleaguesโ€ who are โ€œgreat at what they doโ€ for the network.

Maddow also pointed out that MSNBCโ€™s Katie Phangโ€™s show was impacted by the network shuffle, though a source familiar with the situation tellsย Entertainment Weeklyย that Phang will remain with the network as a legal correspondent.

The one thing Rachel Maddow can do to prove she's not racist like her MSNBC  bosses

However, the channel is no longer broadcasting from Miami, which is whereย The Katie Phang Showย was based.

The source also tells EW that there are no widespread layoffs at MSNBC, but rather some positions are being reallocated to support new programming and that new roles will reportedly not be posted externally before internal figures have a chance to reapply.

Reid first hostedย The Reid Reportย between 2014-2015, followed by her morning talk showย AM Joy, which ran from 2016-2020, before joining her primetime slot withย The ReidOutย in 2020.

Other shifts this week included anย NBC Nightly Newsย shakeup, with Lester Holt stepping down as anchor before pivoting into a full-time role as the lead presenter ofย Dateline NBC.

Rachel Maddow on MSNBC canceling Joy Reid show: 'Bad mistake'

In January, Maddow took over Alex Wagnerโ€™s 9 p.m. weeknight slot for the first 100 days of Trumpโ€™s administration. MSNBC initially said that Wagner would return withย Alex Wagner Tonightย in April, though that is no longer happening โ€” but, Wagner will shift into an analyst role, and a new anchor will take the spot (Jen Psaki, ex-White House press secretary for Joe Biden, is being considered).