‘Morning Joe’ Host Joe Scarborough Tells Viewers He Was “Surprised” And “Disappointed” That Network Preempted Monday’s Show

Ted Johnson
·5 min read
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Joe Scarborough, the namesake host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, addressed the network’s decision to pull Monday’s show from the air and instead run an NBC News/NBC News Now newsfeed that covered the aftermath of the assassination attempt on the life of Donald Trump.

“We were told, in no uncertain terms on Sunday evening, that there was going to be one news feed across all NBC channels yesterday,” Scarborough said, adding that it meant that “we were going to stay in breaking news mode throughout all day yesterday. That did not happen. We don’t know why that didn’t happen. Our team was not given a good answer as to why that didn’t happen.”

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MSNBC returned to its regular program lineup by the afternoon, with Nicolle Wallace hosting her show at 4 p.m. ET.

CNN’s Oliver Darcy, citing a person familiar with the matter, reported that the MSNBC decision was made out of concern a guest “might make an inappropriate comment” that would create a larger backlash against the show and network in the aftermath of the Trump assassination attempt. But an MSNBC spokesperson denied that characterization, noting that the network has been in breaking news coverage ever since the Trump rally shooting.

But there also was criticism on social media for the network’s decision. The preemption was announced on Sunday night with the promise that the show would return on Tuesday. What viewers saw on Monday was an NBC News Now feed, but MSNBC anchor José Díaz-Balart came on during Morning Joe‘s 9 a.m. ET hour to helm coverage.

Scarborough, appearing with co-host Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist, said that they were told that the breaking news mode “was going to happen throughout the day. I guess, after there was such a strong blowback about yesterday morning, that they changed their plans. And so those plans changed as well.”

He added, “We were very surprised. We were very disappointed, and if we had known that there wasn’t going to be the one news feed across all NBC News channels … we obviously would have been in yesterday morning.”

Scarborough said that “next time we’re told there’s going to be a news feed replacing us, we will be sitting in our chair. The news feed will be us, or they can get somebody else to host the show.”

The network has not yet commented on Scarborough’s remarks.

Scarborough’s upset over the preemption was an unusual but not unprecedented public display of disagreement with network decisions. Back in March, Scarborough and Brzezinski were among the MSNBC personalities to sharply publicly criticize NBC News over its decision to hire former Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel as a network analyst, given her role in Trump’s challenge of the 2020 election results on the false claims that it was stolen from him. Cesar Conde, chairman of the NBCUniversal News Group, later reversed the decision to hire McDaniel.

During this morning’s segment, Geist appeared to make the point that he and other Morning Joe personalities could have been trusted to deliver the breaking news. He noted that on Sunday, he and Savannah Guthrie anchored coverage and that he was “obviously suited up and ready to go on a big morning and we’re told that something else was going to be broadcast. So we are here today, going through a lot, catching up a little bit, but we want to be here for our audience and we know you trust us.”

Brzezinski also made the case for the show going on in light of a major breaking news event. “I think the reason why this show began and continues 17 years later on being the place where you can go to have the hard conversations in a civil way. … Now more than ever is a day, a time, when we would like to be on, and I think our viewers agree with that.”

Scarborough also was critical of a portion of NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt’s interview with Joe Biden, which aired in primetime on Monday. Holt asked Biden about the concerns over political rhetoric this cycle that have been heightened in light of the Trump rally shooting.

Holt asked, “You called your opponent an existential threat. On a call a week ago you said, ‘It’s time to put Trump in the bull’s-eye.’ There’s some dispute about the — the context, but I think you appreciate that words matter —”

Biden responded,  “I didn’t say cross-hairs. I was talking about focus on. Look, the truth of the matter was what I guess I was talking about at the time was there was very little focus on Trump’s — agenda.”

Scarborough said on Morning Joe, “We just need to talk about that line of questioning from NBC’s Lester Holt. It was an important question to ask about what Biden said in a private fundraiser to donors, and it is a I would have asked. I think any one of us would have asked that question. But to ask that question without any context about the politically violent rhetoric that Republicans have been engaged in for close to a decade now.” Scarborough referred to comments about former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as well as Trump’s suggestion that Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, should be executed.

Scarborough said, “To ask that question without any context seems to me, you talk about a phony, a moral relativism, it was just screaming throughout that part of the interview. I must say, I was shocked.”

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