MSNBC Will Reportedly Either Cut Joy Reid's Pay Or Boot Her Off Channel

MSNBC has reportedly offered Joy Reid an ultimatum: take a pay cut or leave the network.

According to Lachlan Cartwright of the Ankler newsletter, Reid is among a number of on-air hosts who MSNBC has informed that they would need to accept a pay reduction to stay on the air.

Already, Rachel Maddow has agreed to a $5 million a year pay cut. Maddow will now make only $25 million to host her once-a-week primetime program. Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, and Chris Hayes (who looks like Maddow's younger brother) are undoubtedly paying attention.

MSNBC faces an uncertain future as 2025 approaches. 

The network has lost over half of its audience since Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election in November. Company president Rashida Jones is reportedly weighing an exit. And parent company Comcast announced plans to spin off several of its cable networks, including MSNBC, separate from the flagship NBCUniversal News Group.

The long-term viability of a costly and declining cable news network without the backing of NBC News would appear bleak. And quite frankly, MSNBC's top hosts no longer have the reach to justify their exorbitant salaries.

Joy Reid's 7 p.m. primetime show has averaged just 759,000 viewers since the election, down from 1.4 million viewers before. Such an average hardly warrants her reported $3 million salary, which industry sources say is likely even higher.

Reid is also an embarrassment. She is the most radical voice on any of the Big 3 cable news channels. It's not just that her political ideology is well-left of even the official narrative. She's also nasty.

For someone who has built an entire on-air persona around traffic-copping supposed racism, Reid sure sounds like a racist herself. This summer, she congratulated Harris on selecting Minnesota governor Tampon Tim as her running mate because, unlike Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Walz is not a "mayonnaise sandwich."

Huh?

We will let her explain

"Mark Kelly was the safe pick. He is white. Super white. Like a mayonnaise sandwich on Wonder Bread white," a balding Reid said in a TikTok video.

Oh, got it.

For those unfamiliar, "mayonnaise" has become a common derogatory term the anti-white brigade uses to refer to white people it does not like. Notably, Bishop Talbert Swan (who recently called the author of this article a very dangerous bigot) has a list of phrases using the creamy sauce to describe white folks – such as "mayonnaise dripping demons," "mayo crackers," "mayonnaise deficient monsters", "the mayo posse," and "demonic forces of mayo evil."

Apparently, the MSNBC primetime host has adopted the same practice. 

Damn those "mayo crackers."

Reid also isn't all that bright. On election night, she asserted that "538" is frequently referenced during election night because the number represents the "margin in FL when the Republican SCOTUS reversed the 2000 election during a recount, making Dubya the president."

Not quite. Actually, not at all.

First, 538 refers to the number of Electoral College voters, the votes that decide the outcome of an election. Second, the margin in Florida in 2002 was 537. Third, the Supreme Court did not reverse the outcome of the 2002 presidential election. George W. Bush led Al Gore in every count.

Anyway, Joy Reid graduated from Harvard. But, as she admitted, only because of affirmative action. No kidding.

Whatever MSNBC offers Reid as a pay cut, she should sign the offer immediately with ink. And then hug her boss. And thank the lord. No other network is kooky enough to hire her – not even ABC News.

For Reid, it's either stay at MSNBC on a discount or fade into oblivion in Bluesky heaven, along with Taylor Lorenz, Keith Olbermann, and some other jobless Marxists too radical for even MSNBC.

Written by
Bobby Burack is a writer for OutKick where he reports and analyzes the latest topics in media, culture, sports, and politics.. Burack has become a prominent voice in media and has been featured on several shows across OutKick and industry related podcasts and radio stations.