Lefty MSNBC superstar Rachel Maddow staged an on-air tantrum after the cancellation of her colleague Joy Reid’s “The ReidOut” (plus push-asides for other anchors of color) over the alleged racism of the move.
“Both of our non-white hosts in primetime are losing their shows, as is Katie Phang on the weekend,” Maddow blubbered. ”That feels indefensible and I do not defend it.”
Yes, good journalism is making sure you have headcount diversity and all the DEI boxes ticked.
Not, you know, actually breaking news or providing incisive commentary (Reid’s nightly raving did neither).
And that’s to say nothing of the ugly implicit racism of Maddow’s remark — i.e. that these “non-white” hosts all belong in the same social-professional bucket.
Still, Rachel, if you’re that upset by this “indefensible” move, you’ve got a clear and morally necessary response: Quit.
Prove you actually mean what you say, that you’re personally committed to advancing the cause of marginalized people through equity etc. etc. etc.
Quit and raise money for a new network featuring only “non-white” anchors. Start a Substack and publish a whole cavalcade of DEI hires to your heart’s content.
Or just retire to a beach somewhere to enjoy the millions upon millions you’ve earned peddling extremism to an audience of Gen-X library science MAs in gentrified city nabes and affluent suburbs around the country. (You’ve done your mentor Keith “Forehead Vein Thrombosis” Olbermann proud!)
Maddow won’t quit, of course. The money’s waaaaaaay too good.
Even with her reported recent $5 million pay cut, she’s still bringing in $25 million a year from the struggling network that (so regrettably) made her a fixture of American life.
Still, doing nothing but complain just might cost her her last inch of moral high ground.
Maybe she should just demand the suits also fire white men Chris Hayes and Larry O’Donnell? After all, nobody watches them, either.
