A fired MSNBC star, Joy Reid, says she does know the exact reason why the left-wing news channel decided to cancel her show. However, she thinks it could have to do with being a Black woman and her anti-Trump commentary, especially on social media. 

In a conversation posted on the YouTube channel for her forthcoming “The Joy Reid Show,” on Monday, the former host spoke with a former “Today” show star, Katie Couric, about their careers. Eventually, Ms. Couric asked what happened with Ms. Reid’s ouster at MSNBC. 

“I try not to speculate too much publicly because, again, I can’t get in the minds of other people,” Ms. Reid responded. “But I can tell you what other people have speculated about. People have speculated … saying, Trump. But there are lots of people at the network who are critical of Donald Trump.” 

She noted that there is “a lot of anxiety” at news outlets about criticizing President Trump.

However, Ms. Couric said, “Let’s be honest, you were no different than Nicolle [Wallace] or Rachel Maddow. …”

“Well, only in one way was I different,” Ms. Reid interjected. “I’m a Black woman doing the thing. You know what I mean? And so I’m not different, but I’m different … I think that there’s a difference for Trump in hearing the kinds of criticisms, specifically, out of a Black woman. It bothers him in a way it doesn’t bother him like anything else.”

She also said she “tried to constantly unpack the racial history of the country” on her show. 

Earlier in the conversation, Ms. Reid shared how she frustrated her bosses at NBCUniversal with her use of social media.

“The bosses were horrified. Any time I would tweet anything, I would get calls, I would get, ‘Please get off Twitter, we hate it,” she said. “They just don’t like that it pulls their talent and their reporters out of their control because now you’re not running what you’re tweeting through Standards and Practices. It’s giving your personality directly to the audience, which they don’t like because it’s no longer managed and curated by them.”

In February, MSNBC canceled Ms. Reid’s 7 p.m. show “The ReidOut” amid a network-wide ratings plunge. Ms. Reid was fired as a result of her cancellation, which was part of a raft of changes — and lay-offs — implemented by MSNBC’s new president, Rebecca Kutler. A former MSNBC star, Keith Olbermann, called Ms. Kutler’s changes “a racist purge.” 

Ms. Kutler, a white executive from CNN, replaced MSNBC’s president, Rashida Jones, who is Black. In addition to removing Ms. Reid, she also demoted Alex Wagner, who’s biracial. Speaking on camera, Rachel Maddow said of the changes, “At a network where we’ve got two — count ’em, two — nonwhite hosts in prime time, both of our nonwhite 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.”

Ms. Maddow’s comment was quickly mocked by observers who noted her reported salary of $25 million a year for one day of work a week, funds that could potentially be used to hire or retain hosts of color who would work five days a week. 

Ms. Reid’s 7 p.m. EDT program was replaced by a panel show featuring three panelists, two of whom are Black. The new program, “The Weeknight,” does not appear to have stopped the ratings bleeding. In May, the new show’s ratings were down 36 percent compared to the same time slot last year. 

When Ms. Reid’s show was cut from the lineup, her audience averaged 973,000 viewers, down from 1.3 million the previous year, marking a 28 percent decline. 

In her conversation with Ms. Couric, Ms. Reid noted that MSNBC’s ratings plummeted 57 percent after the 2024 election, but said her show was “down less than any other primetime show.” However, in February, on average, MSNBC’s primetime shows were down 16 percent compared to February 2024, meaning Ms. Reid’s 28 percent annual decrease was significantly worse than that of her colleagues. 

Ms. Reid was widely considered the most divisive weeknight MSNBC host (perhaps the most divisive host, Al Sharpton, airs on the weekends). At the time of her ouster, sources close to NBCUniversal said that Ms. Reid’s inflammatory comments, in particular ones she made about white women, made her too hot to handle, both for NBCUniversal and for Versant, the name of the new spin-off company that MSNBC will be part of.

On Election Night, Ms. Reid placed the blame for Vice President Harris losing North Carolina on white women failing to vote. It was one of countless inflammatory comments she made during her years on MSNBC primetime. Ms. Reid frequently compared Mr. Trump to Adolf Hitler. In 2021, she claimed Republicans would trade tax cuts if it meant they could “openly say the n-word” and that they want to be “openly racist.”

She also called the “cherished tradition” of Thanksgiving a “simplistic fairytale” that “erases the genocide that followed.” In July 2024, she compared President Biden’s Covid-19 diagnosis to Mr. Trump’s first assassination attempt. After the election, she claimed Mr. Trump wants “reparations for white people.”

MSNBC did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication. 

In 2017, Ms. Reid came under fire after posts on her blog “The Reid Report” were discovered in which she opposed gay marriage and made anti-gay jokes, including questioning the sexuality of several prominent actors and politicians, such as Tom Cruise and President Bush. 

Ms. Reid initially claimed that an “unknown, external party accessed and manipulated material” on her blog. However, in June 2018, she apologized for the posts. 

Even after those posts were discovered, in 2020, MSNBC gave her the 7 p.m. hosting gig. 

On Monday, Ms. Reid praised MSNBC’s Ms. Maddow and called her a “boss.”

“She’s amazing, and I hope that MSNBC treats her with the respect she deserves,” Ms. Reid said. 

Despite Ms. Reid’s kind words for Ms. Maddow, it is believed that as MSNBC is spun off under a new company, Versant, attorneys for the network are closely examining the highly paid host’s salary and may be trying to find ways to force her to return to a five-day-a-week schedule to help boost the ratings as the new primetime lineup flounders.