Staff Cuts Hit MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow After Critical Remarks About Network

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow is now dealing with production staff layoffs and internal reshuffling, following her pointed criticism of the network during a broadcast late last month.

In February, the struggling network confirmed sweeping changes, including the cancellation of several programs and layoffs affecting numerous employees. One of the highest-profile cancellations was Joy Reid’s show, which had long faced backlash over Reid’s repeated “anti-white remarks.” After Reid’s departure was announced, Maddow took to the airwaves to imply that the decision was racially motivated.

“Personally, I think it is a bad mistake to let her walk out the door,” Maddow said during her show shortly after Reid’s firing was made public. “It is not my call and I understand that, but that’s what I think.”

She went on to express her concerns about the optics and impact of the network’s programming decisions. “It is also unnerving to see on a network where we’ve got two, two non-white hosts in prime time, both of our non-white hosts in prime time are losing their shows, as is Katie Phang on the weekend. And that feels worse than bad, no matter who replaces them. That feels indefensible, and I do not defend it,” Maddow said.

Shortly afterward, MSNBC revealed a series of staffing changes impacting Maddow’s own team.

“Maddow, the biggest star and highest-rated anchor at MSNBC, will get to keep her executive producer, Cory Gnazzo, and several other senior producers,” The Guardian reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

“But the rest of Maddow’s team – along with producers who worked on the other cancelled shows, hosted by Katie Phang, Jonathan Capehart, Ayman Mohyeldin and José Díaz-Balart – have been given the option to claim severance or reapply for new roles at the network, the people said,” the outlet added.

Currently hosting five nights a week, Maddow will shift back to her one-night-a-week schedule starting April 21. After that, former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki will step into the Tuesday-through-Friday time slot.

Maddow also acknowledged the impact these cuts had on her colleagues.

“That has never happened at this scale, in this way before, when it comes to programming changes, presumably because it’s not the right way to treat people, and it’s inefficient and it’s unnecessary and it kind of drops the bottom out of whether or not people feel like this is a good place to work, and so we don’t generally do things that way,” she said.

However, former Fox News anchor and current SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly didn’t hold back in criticizing Maddow’s response, accusing her of hypocrisy for continuing to accept a multimillion-dollar paycheck from the very network she claimed had a racism problem.

“Rachel Maddow got out there and tried to act like, oh, ‘I’m a woman of the working class, I’m here to represent the poor staffers who could lose their jobs now as a result of Joy Reid biting it,” Kelly said during a discussion hosted by political news outlet Semafor, in a video that later circulated on social media.

“And meanwhile, she’s collecting $25 million a year. She’s got multiple homes worth millions. You know what, why don’t you take a $2 million pay cut and save 10 of those jobs, if you feel that sad?” Kelly said.

“She won’t do it. She wants to seem virtuous and sanctimonious, but in fact, she’s only the latter, ’cause she won’t actually put any money on the line,” Kelly added, also calling Maddow “one of the most annoying people on television. She oozes sanctimony and self-righteousness.”

“Well, if you really think that, then you should not be working there. Why don’t you take your $25 million salary and walk? Put your money where your mouth is. If you are really so disgusted with the ‘racism’ over at MSNBC, why do you want to work there?” Kelly asked.