MSNBC cancels Joy Reid's show

Long-standing progressive Joy Reid has been anchoring her 7 pm show The ReidOut since 2020 but after a major shake-up at the network, led by new network president Rebecca Kutler, her tenure at the network comes to a close this week. Reid's final show will air this week.

After that, the 7 pm hour will feature a panel show helmed by former Democrat strategist Symone Sandrers Townsend, Alicia Mendez, and former RNC chair Michael Steele. Steele has emerged as a critic of both President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. MSNBC's ratings are a major factor in Kutler's changes. The network, while doing better than CNN, has been falling well-short of Fox News, per The New York Times.

"MSNBC has been working to bring viewers back after the results of the 2024 presidential election," Variety notes. "Both MSNBC and CNN saw significant erosion following Donald Trump’s return to the White House and the national conversation, and both have unveiled programing shake-ups in recent weeks."

Removing Joy Reid isn't the only change being made by Kutler. Rachel Maddow, who peddles progressive outrage similar to Reid's, is only scheduled to host her show five nights per week until the end of Trump's 100 days in office. After that, her spot was set to be filled by Alex Wagner. Now, Kutler is planning to put another host in that spot and is leaning toward former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who has been on MSNBC since turning over the reins to Karine Jean-Pierre. 

All of this comes as MSNBC has been spun off from NBCUniversal under Comcast. Kutler was brought into lead the network in February. Kutler Variety reports, is also seeking changes to the daytime lineup. Per Variety, she's looking for "new Washington correspondents and a Washington bureau chief," and is looking at "the possibility of hiring journalists from outlets such as The Washington Post and Politico; bringing in names from other networks; and elevating current MSNBC contributors to anchor roles."