MSNBC denied CNN's reporting that Morning Joe was pulled in response to Trump's assassination attempt after the network instead aired special report coverage via its streaming service, NBC News Now.
The normal show, which features several panelists, is routinely critical of the former president, but the show posted on X that it would return on Tuesday. The report from rival CNN alleged the network pulled the show Monday due to concerns about an inappropriate comment about the assassination attempt by one of the guests on the show.
A spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that the CNN report is "false."
“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 NBCUniversal spokesperson said in a statement. “As we continue to cover this story into the week, the networks will continue to cross simulcast, alternating between NBC News, NBC News NOW and ‘MSNBC Reports,’ so there is one news feed covering this developing situation.”
The decision not to air Morning Joe was a conjunction choice between Cesar Conde, the chairman of NBCUniversal; Rashida Jones, the president of MSNBC; and Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, a person familiar with the matter told CNN .
Jonathan Lemire, the host of MSNBC's Way Too Early with Jonathan Lemire, wrote on X that he would "see you Tuesday morning" for the return of his show and Morning Joe, and he told his followers to tune in to MSNBC for its continued coverage.
However, by midmorning on Monday, the network began using its usual hosts, such as Andrea Mitchell, Jose Diaz-Balart, and Chris Jansing, while remaining in breaking news coverage.
Reaction to the network's programming decision was plentiful on X, and it was the top trending topic Monday morning.
"It's a huge day in politics and MSNBC has pulled 'Morning Joe' off the air," the Washington Examiner's Byron York wrote on X. "They're apparently worried the MJ crew might say something 'inappropriate' about the Trump assassination attempt."
Tom Elliott, the founder of Grabien, a tool used by journalists to include cable news clips into their stories, also weighed in on MSNBC's decision, arguing that the two hosts would blame Trump for his assassination attempt "that they in reality have more culpability for." He also contended that the show has been training its audiences to hate Trump since 2017, when Trump took office.
"NBC doesn't trust Joe Biden's favorite show to not damage the network with their comments on the assassination attempt," the Spectator editor Ben Domenech wrote on X. "Joe and Mika and friends officially benched."
"They should not air @TheView today either," Fox News host Janice Dean wrote on X.
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Scarborough condemned political violence in a post on X after Trump's assassination attempt, arguing that both sides of the political aisle have been targeted with violence. He has since doubled down on his take and said he has been "horrified by those targeted" and "prayed for their families."
Brzezinski has not posted anything on her social media since the Trump shooting.
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