CANCELLED And CONTROLLED? Joy Reid Reveals The STRANGE Limits MSNBC Tried To Enforce Behind Closed Doors
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Fans of former MSNBC anchor Joy Reid were dismayed when her show, The ReidOut, was canceled by the network in February. But Reid spoke out about what she had to deal with from “horrified” network heads, including their attempts to prevent her from using social media. “Anytime I would tweet anything, I would get calls—I would get, ‘Please get off Twitter, we hate it,’” she said during an episode of her Substack show Joy’s House.

“They just don’t like that it pulls their talent and their reporters out of their control because now you’re not running what you’re tweeting through Standards and Practices,” Reid said to former NBC anchor Katie Couric, who joined her for the episode. “It’s giving your personality directly to the audience, which they don’t like because it’s no longer managed and curated by them.”

Couric asked Reid, “So what exactly happened at MSNBC?” Reid began by stating that it was a question she’s been asked a lot, before saying: “People think that I’m just saying it to B.S., but I’m being honest with you—I don’t know. Literally, Katie, my show, The ReidOut, my wonderful team and I, we won an NAACP Image Award in late January, and within less than a month from that, they canceled our show.”

Executives at MSNBC claimed that TheReidOut, which aired at 7 p.m. EST on weeknights, was canceled as part of a network-wide makeover. Fans felt that it was another move influenced by the election of President Donald Trump to a second term last November. It has since been replaced with The Weeknight, a panel discussion show hosted by Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele and Alicia Melendez. The show’s first month ratings were strong as it finished No. 1 in the demographic of adults aged 25 to 54, according to Adweek but still was far behind Fox News as it took second overall outpacing CNN.

Meanwhile, Reid is set to launch The JoyReid Show on June 9 on YouTube. The show is slated to air episodes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Newark Mayor and New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Ras Baraka and comedian Amber Ruffin will be the first guests on the show.