MSNBC “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough says he was “surprised and disappointed” the news and talk show was pulled off the air the day before and that the explanation he was given didn't hold water
MSNBC “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough said Tuesday he was “surprised and disappointed” the news show was pulled off the air the day before and hasn't received a good explanation about why.
The four-hour morning news and talk show, a favorite of President Joe Biden and his fans, was pre-empted Monday in favor of a live news feed from the NBC News Now streaming service that was focused on covering the aftermath of Saturday's assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
Scarborough said he was told Sunday night that all of NBC News channels would be working from a single, consistent feed for the entire day Monday.
“That did not happen,” he said on “Morning Joe” Tuesday. “We don't know why that didn't happen. Our team was not given a good answer as to why that did not happen, but it didn't happen.”
An MSNBC spokesman said the network had no comment on what Scarborough said.
The pre-emption attracted attention on Monday morning, particularly after CNN reported that MSNBC management was concerned that one of the show's cast of commentators or guests would make an inappropriate comment. MSNBC said that was not true. “Morning Joe," like other shows on the network, has often been bitingly critical of Trump.
By later Monday afternoon, opinionated hosts like Nicolle Wallace and Ari Melber anchored their regular shows, and Rachel Maddow led the network's coverage of the Republican national convention.
Scarborough speculated that MSNBC changed its plans because of “blowback” it received from pre-empting his own show.
“We
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