Former MSNBC host Tiffany Cross blasted her old network for firing Joy Reid and urged black viewers to shun the Comcast-owned channel whose morning hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski have “bent the knee” to President Donald Trump.
Cross, whose contract was not renewed by MSNBC in 2022 after she was reportedly reprimanded by management on several occasions for controversial comments she made while hosting “The Cross Connection,” called for the boycott of the network during an “emergency meeting” podcast.
Cross told the “Win With Black Women” podcast that she was “going to try to stop myself from delivering some four letter words.” Her comments were reported by Mediaite.
She then implored African Americans to stop watching MSNBC.
“Don’t watch where you’re not welcome! Don’t shop where they won’t hire you! The same thing they say. Don’t even hate-watch!” Cross said.
Cross said she anticipates that MSNBC management will “start making up stuff” to criticize Reid and justify their decision to nix her show.
“So brace yourself because y’all are going to hear the things and they don’t try to say some things because when movement happens, they don’t know how black women move!” Cross said, likening the higher-ups at the network to “colonizers.”
Cross rejected suggestions that MSNBC moved on from Reid due to low ratings.
“Don’t believe the hype about the ratings. Her show was doing very well,” Cross said. She then aimed her fire at the co-hosts of “Morning Joe” — Scarborough and Brzezinski.
“You know whose ratings ain’t doing well? Who ain’t never got fired? Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough. They went to kiss the ring and they are still being elevated,” according to Cross.
Reid’s MSNBC show experienced a significant decline in viewership in the weeks leading up to management’s decision to cancel.
In early December 2024, the program averaged approximately 759,000 viewers, a 47% decrease from its previous 1.4 million average.
By February of this year, the viewership slightly increased to an average of 973,000 — still notably lower than earlier figures.
The Feb. 20 broadcast attracted 778,000 viewers, ranking as the seventh most popular program on MSNBC and 126th overall on television, according to Nielsen figures.
The “kiss the ring” comment is a reference to the co-hosts’ post-election visit to Mar-a-Lago, where they sough to “restart communication” with Trump despite telling viewers for months that the then-president elect was a “fascist” and a threat to the republic.
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” has seen fluctuations in its viewership, with ratings rising after Trump’s inauguration but showing declines in the months prior.
In the period between Nov. 6 and this past Friday, “Morning Joe” has seen a 40% decline in overall viewership as well as a 46% decrease in number of viewers in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 age demographic, according to Nielsen figures.
By contrast, the show’s main competition, Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends,” attracted more than double the number of overall viewers and more than three times the amount of viewers in the 25-54 demo during the same period, Nielsen figures show.
Prior to the election, “Morning Joe” commanded a 42% share of the cable news audience, according to Nielsen. Since the Nov. 5 election, however, that number has shrunk to 27%.
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The Post has sought comment from MSNBC.
Cross isn’t the only embittered MSNBC refugee to take aim at their former boss.
Keith Olbermann, who has frequently used social media to vent his anger, blasted MSNBC on Monday — calling the move to nix Reid’s show as well as those of Alex Wagner, Ayman Moyheldin, Jonathan Capehart and Katie Phang a “racist purge.”
Olbermann’s former protégé, Rachel Maddow, and fellow prime time host Lawrence O’Donnell both criticized management’s decision during their respective shows on Monday.
