MSNBC host Joe Scarborough did not react kindly to the network removing his show from the air Monday following the assassination attempt against former president Donald Trump.
Scarborough and co-host Mika Brzezinski, his wife, addressed the situation Tuesday and accused MSNBC of lying to them about replacing the show with breaking news coverage of the fallout from the Trump assassination attempt. If MSNBC does that again, Scarborough said, he will leave the show and they can find a new host.
“We were told, in no uncertain terms on Sunday evening that there was going to be one news feed across all NBC news channels yesterday,” Scarborough said. “That did not happen.”
“We were very surprised. We were very disappointed. And if we had known that there wasn’t going to be the one news feed, from NBC news across all NBC news channels. Willie, we obviously would have been in yesterday morning,” Scarborough added, speaking to guest Willie Geist.
When Brzezinski tried to shift the conversation after they addressed the situation, Scarborough cut her off and threatened to quit the network if executives cancel the program on false grounds, pointing out that the network did not cancel all commentary on Monday in favor of straight breaking-news coverage.
“Let me just say, next time we’re told there’s going to be a news feed replacing us, we will be in our chairs,” Scarborough warned. “The news feed will be us, or they can get somebody else to host the show.”
Morning Joe, Scarborough’s show, is among the most-watched programs on MSNBC, and is a favorite of President Joe Biden. The hosts often attack Trump with the kind of inflammatory rhetoric Republicans have strongly criticized following the failed assassination attempt on Trump over the weekend during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa.
CNN first reported on MSNBC’s choice to pull Morning Joe from the air Monday, a major news day marked by the beginning of the Republican convention and the fallout from the Trump-assassination attempt.
A person familiar told CNN the decision was made to prevent a situation where one of the show’s guests makes an inappropriate comment about the Trump only days after he was nearly killed.
“Given the gravity and complexity of this unfolding story, NBC News, NBC News NOW and MSNBC have remained in rolling breaking news coverage since Saturday evening,” an NBC Universal spokesperson said in a statement to CNN.