Rachel Maddow Stands By Joy Reid: ‘I’ve Never Been Prouder To Work With Her Than I Am Now’

Rachel Maddow Stands By Joy Reid: ‘I’ve Never Been Prouder To Work With Her Than I Am Now’

At the top of Saturday morning’s broadcast of AM Joy, MSNBC host Joy Reid addressed the scandal revolving around homophobic blog posts that she had allegedly written more than a decade ago. Acknowledging that the cyber-security expert she hired could not prove that the posts were not hers, Reid said she didn’t believe she “wrote those hateful things” but understood why many people wouldn’t believe her.

Reid would go on to apologize for transphobic tweets she sent out about Ann Coulter, adding that she came from a household that was conservative on LGBT issues and that she is not the same person she was 10 years or “even one year ago.” She then hosted a lengthy panel discussing her LGBT matters and the old blog posts and tweets. (For the most part, the panel of LGBT activists praised Reid for both her recent work and her monologue addressing the issue.)

In response to Reid’s show opener, many of Reid’s MSNBC colleagues rallied around her, sending out supportive tweets and lauding her for discussing the issue. Most noteworthy was the network’s biggest star, who had been the subject of some of the recently circulated blog posts:

On top of Rachel Maddow stating “I’ve never been prouder to work with her than I am now,” we had Nicolle Wallace applauding Reid for “eloquently” expressing “remorse and regret” over something she had said in the past.

MSNBC anchor Craig Melvin said how proud he was of Reid while noting that if “you have never evolved on anything, that’s pretty sad.”

Former MSNBC host Thomas Roberts tweeted that he watched Reid with “great pride” while mentioning that the two of them had covered LGBTQ issues over the past decade.

Stephanie Ruhle said Reid “spoke from her heart” and made her “want to be better.”

Ruhle’s Velshi & Ruhle co-host Ali Velshi sent Reid some “Big Love.”

The Last Word’s Lawrence O’Donnell called Reid’s panel a “moving and important moment.”

Former MSNBC and NBC News anchor Tamron Hall tweeted that she was on a plane watching the “must see” panel.

And MSNBC contributor Malcolm Nance — who has suggested Reid is the victim of alt-right hacking — stated Saturday’s broadcast was a “teachable” and “historic moment.”

Justin Baragona

Justin Baragona is the founder/publisher of Contemptor and a contributor to The Daily Beast. He was previously the Cable News Correspondent for Mediaite and prior to starting Contemptor, he worked on the editorial staff of PoliticusUSA. During that time, he had his work quoted by USA Today and BBC News, among others. Justin began his published career as a political writer for 411Mania. He resides in St. Louis, MO with his wife and pets.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *