In a move that’s stirring quite the buzz in media circles, an insider from MSNBC has slammed Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, labeling them as ‘childish and immature.’ This criticism comes on the edge of a dramatic week for the network, which saw the famous morning show preempted for special coverage of a shocking assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump . An insider noted, “They have a flare for the dramatic.” Scarborough and Brzezinski returned to their show visibly agitated.
As per Page Six , Scarborough didn’t mince words and exclaimed, “We were told, in no uncertain terms, on a Sunday evening that there was going to be one news feed across all NBC news channels yesterday, the ‘Today’ show, Lester Holt… we were going to stay as a network 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, but it didn’t happen…was going to happen throughout the day.”
Morning Joe is furious that MSNBC pulled his show off the air the day after the attempted Trump assassination, threatening to “quit” the network altogether if it happens again pic.twitter.com/bAa5QfuCtu
— HOT SPOT (@HotSpotHotSpot) July 16, 2024
The host added, “I guess, after there was such a strong blowback about yesterday morning, that they changed their plans. And so those plans changed as well…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.”
Besides threatening to quit if Morning Joe is pulled from the air again, Joe Scarborough also swiped at NBC colleague Lester Holt for his Biden interview, namely his question about the “bullseye” remark. “Talk about phony moral relativism… I must say, I was shocked!” pic.twitter.com/dTuOd1OhX4
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) July 16, 2024
An insider spilled the beans and asserted, “Joe and Mika are acting childish and immature. They just need to grow up.” However, despite the criticism, an MSNBC spokesperson defended the morning show, stating, “We are proud of the show ‘Morning Joe’ produces every morning.” However, they did not address the on-air grievances expressed by the hosts.
Adding to the gossip mill, Willie Geist, another prominent figure on Morning Joe , offered partial support to the duo and remarked, “I was here up on Sunday morning with NBC’s coverage… Savannah and I led the coverage on Sunday… talking to officials about what happened, [and we were] obviously suited up and ready to go for [Monday] morning… and we were told that something else was going to be broadcast.”
One source suggested, “It’s splitting hairs. They knew this was happening. Special coverage continued throughout the day until 4 p.m.” Another source added, “Anyone who knows Joe and Mika would know they wouldn’t agree to it if they knew.”
During the show , Brzezinski emphasized, “The place you can go to have the hard conversations in a civil way. It seems like now more than ever is a… time that we would like to be on, and I think our viewers agree with that.” Scarborough concluded, “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.”
As per Deadline , as if this wasn’t enough, he also criticized Holt and remarked, “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… 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… 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.”