Amid a broad reshuffle of its programming lineup, MSNBC is initiating “mass layoffs” of 99 employees who are members of the WGA East, the union said Tuesday.
Over the past two days, according to WGA East, “we learned that MSNBC is starting mass layoffs of 99 of our union colleagues from at least nine different shows. This devastating news comes after the slow, painful trickle of announcements regarding a near-total overhaul of the network’s broadcast lineup.”
Among other changes, Comcast-owned MSNBC is removing Joy Reid and Alex Wagner from its primetime lineup. Meanwhile, Jen Psaki, the former Biden White House press secretary who joined MSNBC in 2023, is moving into the network’s 9 p.m. slot between Tuesday and Friday.
Affected staffers at the cable news outlets work on the following shows: “The ReidOut,” “Alex Wagner Tonight,” “The Weekend,” “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” “Ayman Mohyeldin Reports,” “Weekends With Jonathan Capehart,” “The Katie Phang Show,” “Jose Diaz-Balart Reports” and “Inside With Jen Psaki.”
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MSNBC reps did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the layoffs.
On MSNBC’s air Monday night, longtime anchor Rachel Maddow criticized the changes and said some of the network’s “most experienced, most talented” producers are facing layoffs.
WGA East’s statement said, “Although the Company has acknowledged that there are plenty of job openings at MSNBC, it has cruelly insisted that the workers slated for layoff must reapply for their jobs to remain employed. The MSNBC Union demands the Company not lay off any of the employees it has slated to be laid off but rather reassign them as needed. In the event that any employees are not retained, we demand the Company follow the layoff provisions of the collective bargaining agreement that it entered into with the Union.”
On Sunday evening, President Trump on social media unleashed a tirade attacking MSNBC, along with Reid (whom he called a “mentally obnoxious racist”) and Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts (whom he called a “lowlife”).
“This whole corrupt operation is nothing more than an illegal arm of the Democrat Party,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “They should be forced to pay vast sums of money for the damage they’ve done to our Country. Fake News is an UNPARDONABLE SIN!”
Word of layoffs “comes against the backdrop of the President of the United States making direct threats against MSNBC, among other news outlets, and at a time when it has never been more crucial to have a fully staffed newsroom to cover a democracy under attack,” WGA East said.