MSNBC told The New York Times Sunday that it was “parting ways” with Melissa Harris-Perry after the MSNBC host told staff in an email that she felt as if she lost editorial control and would not appear this weekend on her show.
Harris-Perry told the Times that “terms of severance, not reconciliation” were still being negotiated. She posted this on Twitter early Sunday:
Farewell #Nerdland. Inviting diverse new voices to table was a privilege. Grateful for years of support & criticism. pic.twitter.com/DJ7MMvVreN
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) February 28, 2016
Harris-Perry gave a scathing review of the network in her email to colleagues.
“Our show was taken—without comment or discussion or notice—in the midst of an election season,” Harris-Perry wrote in the email.
The network initially called the email “surprising, confusing and disappointing.”
So, is this MSNBC’s way of saying, “No, I broke up with her. She didn’t break up with me.”?
It’s really quite sad and stunning that a year ago MSNBC had at least five shows hosted by women of color. Now they have one. They had at least five hours a day with minority hosts. Now they have two.
I don’t understand why TPM has been eliding the racial component to this story. The original article citing Harris-Perry’s e-mail neither mentioned nor quoted any of it which mentioned her allegation of a change to MSNBC’s racial composition, nor her usage of racially-charged language which implied she felt that she was being tokenized as well as marginalized.
(I’m not taking a position on this, as I don’t watch enough television to judge–but the racial aspect seems a big part of this, and I don’t get why it’s not being covered here.
Because if she’s correct, this is despicable. If she’s not, it’s worth asking why.)
I hope this just means bigger and better things for her. I hope a network like Fusion picks her up or she starts her own podcast. I didn’t always agree with her takes on issues, but she is so insanely smart and thoughtful and charming, it’s a real loss. I especially dislike that they never used her for their election night coverage. MHP is a million times better than Brian Williams, Steve Kornacki, or Chris Matthews at political analysis.
I can bet that NBC was “confused and disappointed” by her email. They were expecting her to go quietly just like most of the other victims that they and the other broadcast corporations have raped over the years.
My memory fails me. I remember Melissa, Joy and Alex Wagner. Who are the other two women?