Trump celebrates cancellation of Joy Reid’s MSNBC show as he slams network for ‘unpardonable sin’
WASHINGTON, DC: Donald Trump had a lot to say after MSNBC axed its longtime host Joy Reid.
In a Truth Social post, the president didn’t just celebrate Reid’s downfall—he demanded the network cough up "vast sums of money" for the supposed damage they’ve done to the country.
Donald Trump slams MSNBC and Joy Reid
It all began after MSNBC announced on Sunday, February 23, that it was pulling the plug on Joy Reid's show, 'The ReidOut', amid plummeting ratings and a frantic behind-the-scenes shakeup to stop the bleeding.
The network has been hemorrhaging viewers—January was its worst-rated month ever in the all-important 25-54 demographic, the golden goose for advertisers.
Trump wasted no time unleashing on Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, whom he mockingly dubbed the "Lowlife Chairman of 'Concast'".
"The owner of ratings-challenged NBC and MSDNC has finally gotten the nerve up to fire one of the least talented people in television, the mentally obnoxious racist, Joy Reid," Trump posted.
"Based on her ratings, which were virtually non-existent, she should have been 'canned' long ago, along with everyone else who works there," he added.
Trump went scorched-earth, calling out other MSNBC heavyweights like Al Sharpton and Rachel Maddow as well. He mocked Maddow in particular for allegedly skipping work because "she knows there's nobody watching and she also knows that she's got less television persona than virtually anyone on television except, perhaps, Joy Reid."
The president also accused the entire network of being nothing more than a "corrupt operation" acting as "an illegal arm of the Democrat Party"—and he wants them to pay up.
"They should be forced to pay vast sums of money for the damage they've done to our country," Trump wrote, adding, "Fake News is an UNPARDONABLE SIN!"
MSNBC staffers blindsided by 'The ReidOut' cancellation
While Donald Trump was celebrating, Joy Reid’s staff was reportedly blindsided by the cancellation. According to reports, the team wasn’t even told directly—they found out from the media after news of their fate leaked.
They "expressed frustration and disbelief, outraged that they had learned of their show's fate from reports in the press rather than leadership," Oliver Darcy’s Status newsletter reported.
Furious staffers demanded answers, forcing newly-minted MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler to hold an emergency virtual meeting. But instead of getting clarity, employees walked away with worse news.
According to reports from Status, the meeting quickly turned heated as frustrated employees demanded to know why the show was scrapped and what it meant for their futures. Kutler confirmed that "the entire staff had been laid off".
She did try to soften the blow, promising severance through April and urging them to apply for other gigs at MSNBC—where over 100 new job listings were supposedly opening up.
One particularly enraged staffer called out MSNBC leadership, blasting them for how poorly the situation was handled: "This is a terrible, terrible way to learn about our fate."
Kutler said she was "incredibly disappointed" that the news got out before she could break it to the staff herself.
MSNBC denies Donald Trump factor but Joy Reid’s conspiracy rants didn’t help
There were questions about whether MSNBC fired Joy Reid because of her relentless attacks on Donald Trump. Kutler was quick to shut that theory down, insisting that the network’s decision had "nothing to do" with Trump.
It's safe to say that Reid has been one of Trump’s loudest and most aggressive critics, and her latest controversies have only made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
After the assassination attempt on Trump in July last year, Reid fueled conspiracy theories by suggesting that Trump might not have even been shot at all. "We still don't know for sure whether Donald Trump was hit by a bullet. We know almost nothing," she declared on air.
Critics subsequently accused her of outright denialism and peddling dangerous conspiracy theories—the same thing she’s spent years calling out conservatives for. But that wasn’t her only viral meltdown.
Just recently, she raged on TikTok over Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to scale back Meta’s controversial fact-checking programs, bizarrely claiming that Trump’s 2016 transition into power was "a violent one".
She mocked conservatives with a smirk. "Why would conservatives think that fact-checking is biased against them?" she asked sarcastically.
"I mean, what are you sharing? If you keep getting fact-checked for false information?" she added. Reid then tapped her temple as if to say, "Use your brain, people."
The rant came off as snarky, dismissive, and condescending—only fueling more backlash from the right.
According to The New York Times, Reid's final episode of 'The ReidOut' is set to air this week.
