The firings at MSNBC are escalating with at least 99 producers being laid off amid a major overhaul of the troubled liberal cable news network.

Behind the camera staffers from “at least nine different shows” — which include “The ReidOut,” “Alex Wagner Tonight,” “The Weekend,” “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” “Ayman Mohyeldin Reports,” “Weekends with Jonathan Capehart,” “The Katie Phang Show,” “José Díaz-Balart Reports,” and “Inside With Jen Psaki” — are being let go as part of “mass layoffs,” according to the union representing the 99 employees, the Writers Guild of America East. It’s not clear how many staffers are being laid off who are not WGA members.

“This devastating news comes after the slow, painful trickle of announcements regarding a near-total overhaul of the network’s broadcast line-up,” reads a statement from WGA. “The news of layoffs comes against the backdrop of the President of the United States making direct threats against MSNBC, among other news outlets, and at a time when it has never been more crucial to have a fully staffed newsroom to cover a democracy under attack.”

Staffers at MSNBC tend to move between shows with some frequency, and the lay-offs are affecting many loyal, longtime staffers. MSNBC says it’s adding 100 new jobs, but is not shuffling staff affected by the cancellations into those roles. Rather, the laid off staffers must apply for them. The jobs will be posted internally for a brief period before being posted externally perhaps giving the laid-off staffers a leg up. A source within MSNBC tells the Guardian that the changes were not “widespread layoffs,” but rather a “reallocation of producers” with all those let go encouraged to reapply for new positions.

However, the staff are not being shuffled automatically into new roles, as has been customary over the years at MSNBC – they are laid off as of April – and must reapply to stay in the company. The overall move suggests that the management of the so-called SpinCo – the corporate entity encompassing NBCUniversal’s cable networks that are being spun off  into a new company – wants a purge and then an infusion of fresh blood.

“The MSNBC Union demands the Company not lay off any of the employees it has slated to be laid off but rather reassign them as needed,” their statement reads. “In the event that any employees are not retained, we demand the Company follow the layoff provisions of the collective bargaining agreement that it entered into with the Union.”

On Sunday, Mr. Trump took to social media and gloated over reports that anchor Joy Reid, whom he called “a mentally obnoxious racist,” was being let go and demanded that the network pay restitution for the “unpardonable sin” of damaging the nation.

“They should be forced to pay vast sums of money for the damage they’ve done to our Country. Fake News is an UNPARDONABLE SIN,” Mr. Trump wrote in a long diatribe against MSNBC posted to Truth Social. “This whole corrupt operation is nothing more than an illegal arm of the Democrat Party.”

The “Status” media news newsletter reported earlier this week that the defenestration of Ms. Reid — who’s been dogged by allegations of racism and homophobia and has repeatedly derided Trump supporters — was instigated by SpinCo management who are hoping to avoid trouble with the Trump Administration regarding the spinoff from NBCUniversal and future acquisitions.

Included among the culling are a majority of employees who help to produce Rachel Maddow’s show on MSNBC. Since Ms. Maddow only works one day a week — with the exception of Mr. Trump’s first 100 days — they primarily work for Alex Wagner’s show which airs Tuesday to Friday in the slot vacated by Ms. Maddow, and is being canceled.   

Yet Ms. Maddow’s coterie of producers who’ve been with her for years, including her executive producer, Cory Gnazzo, and several other senior producers, will stay on, according to the report.

The culling of Ms. Maddow’s staff comes after she took to the airwaves on Monday to chide network brass for cancelling Ms. Reid’s program, “The Reid Out.”

Ms. Maddow took time out of her program on Monday to criticize her employer, which pays her $25 million annually to anchor one show a week — after the president’s first hundred days — saying it was “very, very, very hard” to understand why her colleagues were canned.

“It’s not my call, and I understand that,” Ms. Maddow said. “But that’s what I think. I will tell you, it is also unnerving to see that on a network where we have two — count them, two — non-white hosts in prime time, both of our non-white hosts in prime time are losing their shows, as is Katie Phang on the weekend. And that feels worse than bad, no matter who replaces them.” 

“That feels indefensible. And I do not defend it.”

She did not specifically defend any of the off-camera staff who are losing their jobs.