MSNBC confirmed Monday that host Jen Psaki will move into a new primetime slot as part of a major network shakeup that also sees the departure of Trump-critical anchor Joy Reid.
Psaki, the former press secretary for President Joe Biden, will assume 9 p.m. EDT duties Tuesday through Friday from current host Alex Wagner, starting in late April, the network announced.
The overhaul, spearheaded by new president Rebecca Kutler, also includes the cancellation of weekend shows hosted by Ayman Mohyeldin, Jonathan Capehart, Katie Phang, and Jose Diaz-Balart, the New York Post reported.
Kutler’s reshuffling of the anchor lineup comes on the heels of Sunday’s leak that Joy Reid is being let go. Her show, The ReidOut, will be replaced by the hosts of The Weekend—Michael Steele, Symone Sanders-Townsend, and Alicia Menendez.
Reid, who was set to host her final show on Monday, spoke out about her ousting during a call-in to the “Win With Black Women” podcast.
“I’ve been through every emotion from, you know, anger, rage, disappointment, hurt, you know, a feeling that, you know, guilt. You know, that I let my team lose their jobs,” Reid said during the Zoom call Sunday night.
Psaki will take over Rachel Maddow’s time slot once the network’s highest-paid host returns to airing just one show a week on Mondays. Previously, Maddow was required by the network to host five days a week during the first 100 days of the Trump administration.
Wagner will remain at MSNBC as a senior political analyst, The Post added. In addition, MSNBC plans to establish a Washington bureau and bolster its domestic and international correspondent teams as it separates from sister channel NBC News after the spinoff.
Kutler replaced Rashida Jones last month as parent company Comcast prepares to spin off the network along with its other cable properties.
Capehart and Mohyeldin will lose their current weekend shows and transition into new roles. Capehart will now anchor the morning edition of The Weekend, while Mohyeldin will lead the program’s evening edition, The Post continued.
According to the network, Phang and Diaz-Balart, who currently host shows from Miami, have been informed that their programs will end as the network winds down its South Florida-based operations. Phang will remain with MSNBC as a legal correspondent, and Diaz-Balart, who also works for Telemundo and NBC News, will continue anchoring the network’s weekend nightly news broadcast.
As part of the overall revamp, daytime anchors Katy Tur, Ana Cabrera, and Chris Jansing will see their shows either moved or extended, and Ali Velshi’s 10 a.m. weekend show will be expanded from two hours to three hours.
“This is going to be a really exciting time but also a challenging time,” Kutler told MSNBC leaders during a meeting before the changes were announced.
MSNBC, like liberal competitor CNN, has been shedding viewers for years but the bleeding really accelerated following President Donald Trump’s November win. Meanwhile, right-leaning Fox News has continued its cable news dominance, even expanding viewership after a number of its hosts left to join the Trump administration.
“I think it’s important that we as leaders are honest about that and about the challenges ahead. Our jobs are hard on a normal day, and these are not normal times,” Kutler continued.
Meanwhile, “NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt announced Monday that he will step down after a decade leading the network’s evening broadcast.
Holt, 65, will continue with NBC in a full-time capacity at “Dateline,” where he has served as the principal anchor for nearly 15 years, according to a memo circulated to staff, The Post reported separately.
Holt, reportedly earning around $10 million per year, said he would keep anchoring the evening news until “the start of summer.”