MSNBC canceled its flagship AM program “Morning Joe” on Monday in response to the assassination attempt on former President Trump.
Viewers who tuned in Monday expecting a staunchly anti-Trump show hosted by Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski will instead see NBC News continue its special coverage of the Trump assassination attempt on Saturday. A spokesman said “Morning Joe” will return to the air on Tuesday.
CNN reported that a person familiar with the decision said it was made over concerns that one of the show's many guests “might make inappropriate comments live on air and bring criticism of the show and the network as a whole” during the four-hour broadcast.
CNN reported that NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde made the decision to end the show in consultation with MSNBC President Rashida Jones and the show's co-hosts.
MSNBC's move to pull “Morning Joe” shocked political commentators, with some conservatives saying it showed one of the network's most highly-watched programs could not be trusted to cover tense situations with discretion.
“The fact that the Morning Joe network itself cannot be trusted to not spew reckless, inflammatory drivel during breaking news stories tells you everything you need to know about the credibility of the MSNBC lineup,” a veteran Republican consultant told Fox News Digital.
The news has also upset the left.
Liberal journalist Jeff Jarvis was outraged at X: “What the hell is this MSNBC doing? They preempted a great weekend show and now they've silenced us? [Morning Joe] “Are you in favor of a mediocre streaming news cosplay show called Now? Times like these are when we need the analysis and dialogue (yes, controversy – that's how public discourse works, through debate) that these shows bring. It's shocking that NBC/Comcast doesn't understand their own programming and reason for existence.”
Messrs. Scarborough and Brzezinski have a complicated relationship with Trump. They were bullish on his chances of winning in 2015 and 2016 and frequently interviewed him on their shows, but have since become his fiercest critics since taking office.
Here's an excerpt from an article by David Latz and Brian Flood of Fox News.