By Molly Goddard
9:03am PST, Feb 25, 2025
"She is leaving the network altogether and that is very, very, very hard to take," the Emmy winner said about her beloved co-worker.
"But in all of the jobs I have had in all of the years I have been alive, there is no colleague for whom I have had more affection and more respect than Joy Reid," she continued. "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 and personally."
After gushing over the New York native, the anchor delivered an unapologetic critique of the company. "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 admitted.
Maddow then pointed out how uncomfortable she was with how the workplace changes rolled out.
"I will tell you. It is also unnerving to see that on a
network where we've got two – count them – two nonwhite hosts in primetime, both of our nonwhite hosts in primetime are losing their shows, as is
Katie Phang on the weekend," she noted of Reid and fellow anchor
Alex Wagner, whose show was also canceled.
"That feels worse than bad, no matter who replaces them. That feels indefensible. And I do not defend it," the Democratic commentator emphasized.
Maddow also highlighted all the people behind the camera who are now out of a job due to the decisions of new MSNBC boss
Rebecca Kutler. "Dozens of producers and staffers, including some who are among the most experienced and most talented and most specialist producers in the building, are facing being laid off," she added.
"They're being invited to reapply for
new jobs. 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," Maddow explained.
During Reid's final episode, Maddow and her other colleagues,
Lawrence O'Donnell and
Nicolle Wallace, joined the outspoken host to tell her how much she means to the network.
On Sunday, February 23, it was reported that MSNBC was making drastic changes in its broadcasting lineup to salvage disappointing ratings.
Later that day, the head of the network hosted a meeting to let staffers at the impacted shows know they were being
laid off.
"Staffers expressed frustration and disbelief, outraged that they had learned of their show's fate from reports in the press rather than leadership," journalist
Oliver Darcy claimed in a story for
Status.
Reid sent a powerful message to viewers during her farewell episode to stay vigilant amid
Donald Trump's second presidency.
"We begin tonight with what I think is
the question. When you are in the midst of a crisis and specifically a crisis of democracy, how do you resist when fascism isn't just coming, it's already here?" she said.
"So, what, if anything, can you do about it? For one thing, you can try to learn from history, from what people in this situation, in countries around the world and in America have done before. As my friend Rachel Maddow always says, history is here to help," the 56-year-old made clear.
