Tension at MSNBC as Rachel Maddow and Stephanie Ruhle Skewer Their Comcast Bosses Over Donation to Trump’s Ballroom

Two of MSNBC’s most high-profile stars, Rachel Maddow and Stephanie Ruhle, are criticizing Comcast – still their parent company – for donating money to the new White House ballroom being built by President Trump.The stars’ public objections are reportedly reflective of broad discontent inside both far-left MSNBC, which is being spun off from Comcast, and reliably liberal NBC News, which is remaining.While the exact amount of the donation is not publicly known, Comcast is facing criticism over the gift amid speculation that the media conglomerate helped fund the new ballroom as a form of penance for MSNBC’s anti-Trump coverage as it is reportedly eyeing a major media acquisition, the purchase of CNN’s corporate parent, Warner Bros. Discovery, which would require the approval of the Trump Administration. The top-rated host at MSNBC, Rachel Maddow, whom Comcast reportedly pays $25 million a year to work one day a week, criticized Comcast’s donation, while noting that it is still her network’s parent company. The MSNBC news personality, Stephanie Ruhle, has been denounced by President Trump. MSNBC“For every corporation—like our parent company, for another hot minute, Comcast—that wants to pay for Trump to take a literal wrecking ball, excuse me, I mean an excavator to the White House, those public-facing companies should know there’s a cost in terms of their reputation with the American people,” Ms. Maddow warned. “There may be a cost to their bottom line when they do things against American values, against the public interest, because they want to please Trump, or buy him off, or profit somehow from his authoritarian overthrow of our democracy.” Her comments come after Ms. Ruhle, known for a fawning interview she did with Kamala Harris during the 2024 campaign, and is believed to make $3 to $4 million a year, recently said, “Comcast, our Comcast, is one of those underwriting” the ballroom.“Shouldn’t that be more concerning to the American people? Because there ain’t no company out there writing a check just for goodwill,” she said. As Ms. Maddow referenced with her “hot minute” quip, MSNBC and all but one of Comcast’s other cable properties are being spun off from Comcast, since they were viewed as a contracting asset and were a drag on the share price. MSNBC is being forced to change its name to MS NOW and drop the iconic peacock logo.Comcast CEO Brian Roberts arrives at the Sun Valley lodge for the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 8, 2025. Kevin Dietsch/Getty ImagesMs. Maddow has not been afraid to skewer her corporate bosses on air, even when she wasn’t being spun off into a new company. In February, she said it was “hard to take the news” that MSNBC had fired far-left host Joy Reid, who is black, and was cancelling two primetime shows that had “nonwhite hosts.” Ms. Maddow said she thought it was a “bad mistake” and that it “feels worse than bad” and “indefensible.”(She may have been right – ratings for the new shows have badly lagged their predecessors)Another MSNBC host, Lawrence O’Donnell, opined that Comcast is “committed to nothing but Comcast.”Staffers at NBC News are also reportedly exasperated by the donation. However, a far-left media reporter, Oliver Darcy, wrote in his Status newsletter that the NBC News staffers are “expected to project neutrality.”Stephanie Ruhle interviewed Kamala Harris last year. MSNBCMr. Darcy reports that “more than a half dozen staffers and others familiar with the newsroom’s mood” said NBC News staffers “were both astonished and appalled by their parent company’s donation and have spent the past week privately venting their frustrations.”“It’s unsettling to see our parent company buy into the pay-to-play of the Trump administration,” an unnamed NBC News employee told Mr. Darcy. Mr. Darcy said Comcast executives are likely not losing sleep over the outrage due to “how little the news channel’s financials matter to Comcast’s bottom line.”NBC News and Comcast have come under fire in recent weeks for taking steps seen as corporate efforts at improving relations with the Trump Administration, as MSNBC is jettisoned from the company.Rachel Maddow has reportedly taken a pay cut to earn $25 million a year to work one day a week. MSNBCEarlier this month, NBC announced it was laying off about 150 staffers, or about 7 percent of its newsroom. A source told the Wrap that the cuts “did not target specific teams and were driven by the network’s budget and the desire to streamline its editorial efforts.” But the cuts did target NBC News’s diversity verticals. These verticals were NBC BLK, focusing on black people, NBC Asian America, NBC Latino, and NBC OUT, focusing on gay, lesbian, transgender, and “queer” issues.Despite the donation and the cuts to the diversity verticals, sources in the Trump Administration have signaled that it is likely Comcast faces an uphill battle if it wants to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. A “senior Trump administration” official told the New York Post, “Who owns Warner Bros. Discovery is very important to the administration.”“The Warner board needs to think very seriously not just on the price competition but which player in the suitor pool has been successful getting a deal done,” the official said. “And that points to the Ellisons.” The adult film star Stormy Daniels discusses with the MSNBC star Rachel Maddow what she says are her financial woes. MSNBCDavid Ellison, the son of the world’s second-richest man and a strong Trump supporter, Larry Ellison, is the CEO of Skydance, which acquired CBS News’s corporate parent company, Paramount, this year. David is backed by Larry’s enormous fortune. The official also said the chance that the CEO of Comcast, Brian Roberts, is “going to be able to expand and buy CNN or whatever” is “low.” The official did not rule out the possibility that Mr. Roberts will come up with a “grand detente with the president,” but added, “I don’t think that will happen and that’s the key.”Mr. Trump’s relationship with Mr. Roberts dates back to his time starring in “The Apprentice.” The president has routinely criticized Mr. Roberts for anti-Trump and anti-MAGA coverage produced by NBC News and MSNBC.“Comcast, which also has the ailing network known as NBC, is trying to stay away from lawsuits by disassociating NBC from MSNBC, but it won’t work,” the president said on Truth Social. “Comcast, the owner of both, and it’s [sic] Chairman, Brian Roberts, are a disgrace to the integrity of Broadcasting!!!”Comcast Corp. Chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts delivers a keynote address at the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show at the Venetian January 8, 2008. Ethan Miller/Getty ImagesIn February, he labeled Mr. Roberts a “lowlife” and the CEO of “Concast.”Amid the contentious relationship, media insiders do not expect that Comcast’s attempts to mend relations will work, though NBC and Comcast have not been sued by Mr. Trump as ABC and CBS have been. A media analyst, Rich Greenfield, floated one “crazy,” in his own words, way for Comcast to “win Trump’s heart.”“Merging NBCUniversal with Warner Bros. Discovery would combine NBC, MSNBC and CNN under one roof,” he said in a column. “We’ve been thinking about how NBCUniversal could completely shift the perceived bias narrative at NBC/MSNOW and CNN, similar to what Paramount is attempting with its acquisition of The Free Press and appointing Bari Weiss as Editor-in-Chief of CBS News.”Mr. Greenfield added, “Enter Erika Kirk, who leads the non-profit Turning Point USA and is the widow of Charlie Kirk. What if Comcast agreed to bring Kirk in as editor-in-chief of the combined news unit upon closing? Sure, at first blush it sounds crazy, but Trump loves a deal, and Brian Roberts needs to think big and differently.”Comcast did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

Tension at MSNBC as Rachel Maddow and Stephanie Ruhle Skewer Their Comcast Bosses Over Donation to Trump’s Ballroom

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