Rachel Maddow Celebrates Ronna McDaniel's Firing Live on Air

Following the news that NBC had reversed its decision to hire Ronna McDaniel, a former Republican National Committee chairwoman, journalist Rachel Maddow celebrated the news live on air.

"I will just say that journalists are a fractious bunch and in our big company with all sorts of journalistic entities, you have all sorts of different people working in this business doing all sorts of different work," she told Joy Reid while appearing on MSNBC's The ReidOut.

"And to see the essentially unanimous feeling among all the journalists in this building—all the senior staff and all the producers and everybody in this building—about this was one thing, but to see the executives and leadership hear that and respond to it and be willing to change course based on it, based on their respect for us and hearing what we argued, I have deep respect for that."

The Context

The network reversed its hiring decision on Tuesday after MSNBC hosts including Maddow, Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Lawrence O'Donnell and Nicolle Wallace all voiced their strong disapproval of the move within days of it being announced.

McDaniel was hired on Friday to provide political analysis on MSNBC and NBC as the November presidential election approaches. She left her position at the RNC earlier this month following a request for new leadership from former President Donald Trump.

Many critics voiced outrage over McDaniel having boosted Trump's unproven claims of a "stolen" 2020 election, a position that she appeared to reverse during a Sunday interview by conceding that President Joe Biden won "fair and square."

Criticism from NBC and MSNBC personalities continually ramped up over the four days that McDaniel was associated with the organization. Top-rated MSNBC host Maddow said on Monday night that she found the hiring "inexplicable" and hoped that NBC bosses would "reverse their decision."

What We Know

During an episode of her show, Reid explained that NBC employees all received a memo from NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde rescinding McDaniel's hiring. In it, he said there were "legitimate concerns" of network employees and apologized for a "difficult" few days since the announcement was made.

"I know I felt very strongly about it, I know you felt strongly about it, I think everyone from 4 o'clock on to Nicole all the way to midnight all felt very strongly and said so on all of our respective shows yesterday," Reid told Maddow.

"I just have to say, when somebody does the right thing, I feel like it should be acknowledged as publicly as we acknowledge our outrage. I know how I feel about it, I'm grateful to Cesar for actually making the right decision, I feel like it was the right decision."

Maddow said while it felt "wrong" to treat things happening within the company as news, she agreed.

"I think that acknowledging you might have gotten something wrong is a real sign of strength, a real show of strength. I think it's a show of strength and I think it's a show of respect for the people who work at this company and the people who make us who we are, that leadership was willing to change on this. I'm grateful to them," she said.

Maddow continued: "It's not about hiring a Republican, it's not even about hiring somebody who has Trump ties, this was a really specific case because of Mrs. McDaniel's involvement in the election interference stuff.

"I'm grateful that our leadership was willing to do—I think—the bold, strong, resilient thing."

Views

Newsweek emailed NBC and McDaniel for comment Wednesday.

One X user (formerly Twitter) posted a snippet of the exchange between Reid and Maddow to the platform, with the caption: "Rachel Maddow and Joy Reid are giddy over NBC's firing of Ronna McDaniel."

People took to the replies to share their frustration over the decision to rescind McDaniel's job offer.

"All is does is prove what everyone already knows and that is that MSNBC is a partisan Leftist cesspool," one person commented.

"Saving Our Democracy By Silencing Opposing Views!" said another.

A third added: "And they brag about being a non-biased news agency reporting both sides, but they only hire far left demorat activists...100%."

However, elsewhere online people celebrated the news.

"How f****** badass are all of the journalists at MSNBC who stood up and said 'no' to Ronna McDaniel?!? It took incredible courage to do what they did, and they did it anyway. Because they knew they were right. This is what we need more than ever. THANK YOU to every one of them," one X user posted.

"It was the American people speaking out loudly over Ronna McDaniel's hiring that led to her firing. Well done," someone else said.

Others questioned NBC's decision to hire McDaniel's in the first place, with one person writing: "There we have it. NBC just informed its staff that they have officially fired Ronna McDaniel & she will no longer be a paid NBC News Contributor. This should've never happened in the first place, but very glad NBC has gotten rid of her. Thank you to everyone who spoke up."

Another person added: "The Ronna McDaniel mess at NBC has proven one thing beyond a doubt: The executive leaders who are supposed to be setting their networks' moral standards instead have to face staff mutinies before they'll act with even a shred of basic ethics."

What's Next?

McDaniel's next move is unclear. She had not publicly weighed in on NBC's decision at the time of publication and could not be reached for comment.

In addition to being fired by NBC on Tuesday, McDaniel was also reportedly dropped by Creative Artists Agency (CAA), which brokered her deal with the network shortly after leaving the RNC, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Update 03/27/24, 8:00 a.m. ET. This article was updated with additional information.

Update 03/27/24, 8:26 a.m. ET. This article was updated with additional information.