Well, folks, it’s official: Joy Reid’s reign of sanctimonious word-salad on MSNBC has finally been axed. “The ReidOut,” that 7 p.m. snoozefest where Joy spent nearly five years lecturing America about racism, Trump, and why everyone who disagrees with her is a deplorable troglodyte, got the chop this week.
The network’s new boss, Rebecca Kutler, decided it was time to pull the plug on the show that’s been hemorrhaging viewers faster than a sinking ship loses rats. And honestly, who can blame her? Watching Joy Reid try to connect the dots between MAGA hats and the fall of Western civilization was like watching a conspiracy theorist with a PowerPoint presentation and a grudge—except less entertaining.
The final episode is set to air this week, putting an end to a run that started back in 2020 when Joy took over from Chris Matthews, who probably didn’t see that train wreck coming. MSNBC isn’t kicking her to the curb entirely, though—word is she’ll stick around as some sort of national correspondent or contributor, which sounds like a fancy way of saying “we’ll throw her a bone so she doesn’t sue us.”
Meanwhile, her old slot’s getting a makeover with a panel show featuring Symone Sanders Townsend, Alicia Menendez, and Michael Steele—a trio that promises to be less preachy but probably just as insufferable. At least Steele might accidentally say something sensible once in a while; the guy’s a RINO, but he’s not Joy-level unhinged.
The cancellation’s no shock when you look at the numbers. Ratings for “The ReidOut” have been circling the drain for months, and MSNBC’s whole lineup’s been taking a beating since the election. Apparently, Americans got tired of being scolded by a host who once claimed hacking her old blog (where she said some spicy stuff about gay folks) was a vast right-wing conspiracy.
Yep, the same Joy Reid who built her brand on calling out bigots had to apologize for her own dusty internet skeletons—irony so thick you could cut it with a chainsaw. The lefties loved her anyway, but the rest of us? We’d rather watch paint dry than hear another lecture about “white privilege” from a woman who’s been cashing MSNBC checks for years.
So here we are, watching the Joy Reid era end not with a bang, but with a whimper—and a new panel show nobody asked for. The right-wing X-sphere’s already popping champagne, and frankly, it’s hard not to join in. MSNBC’s trying to pivot in a post-Trump world where their outrage machine doesn’t quite hum like it used to.
Joy’s cancellation is just the latest sign that the woke gravy train might be running out of steam. Good riddance, “ReidOut.” May your replacement be less insufferable, though I wouldn’t bet my truck on it.
