The new president of MSNBC, Rebecca Kutler, held an unplanned virtual meeting with Joy Reid’s staff after the show’s cancellation was leaked to the media.
An audio recording of the meeting about the leak was subsequently leaked to the media.
The recording was obtained by former CNN reporter Oliver Darcy, who wrote, “Staffers expressed frustration and disbelief, outraged that they had learned of their show’s fate from reports in the press rather than leadership. Others demanded answers about the reasoning behind the cancellation of “The Reidout” and what it meant for their futures at the network.”
According to the report, Kutler confirmed that “the entire staff had been laid off” but would receive severance pay through April. She also encouraged them to apply for other jobs within the company.
Darcy reports:
Despite MSNBC’s assurances that new roles will be available, staffers exited the meeting shaken. The shock of learning about their show’s fate, married with uncertainty about what comes next, spurred significant frustration with MSNBC brass—which came through during the Sunday meeting.
While Kutler pointed to the more than 100 new jobs being posted this week as a sign of hope for the staffers, for those who have worked on “The ReidOut,” the meeting drove home a difficult reality: Their show is over, and their future at the progressive network is not certain.
Though Kutler was apologetic about how they learned about their lost jobs, staff remained outraged and said it was a “terrible, terrible way to learn about our fate.”
Darcy said Kutler also insisted that “Donald Trump was not a factor” in the show’s termination.
Kutler was asked if Trump’s position on the network factored in to the cancellation and she replied, “No, it did not.”
