Joy Reid: MSNBC Was a Lifeline to So Many Viewers, ‘We Were Like Sesame Street to People’

TRANSCRIPT:

Reid: “You remember, MSNBC was not just a channel for a lot of people. It was a lifeline in a world in which every other network was either on the one hand, on the other hand, or right-wing. MSNBC was like a respite for people. People believed that every single person on MSNBC was their personal friend. They were — we were there friend in their head. We were the good liberal friend who they could talk with. We were a diverse, interesting crew. We had all kinds of people. We had gay folks, straight folks, men, women, blacks, Latinos, Asians — the very few of the Asian, you know, the small — there are not that many Asian Americans that even get these opportunities. We had, like, multiple Asian Americans. We had all these different people, so we were relatable, right? We were like Sesame Street to people. People who come up to me, who are by and large white Americans, come up to me and go, ‘We miss you so much on MSNBC. We miss you so much. Oh, my God, your voice is so missed.’ And then the black people come up to me and go, ‘I will never watch MSNB again. We’re done.’ Like, the blacks are like, ‘We’re not watching the more.’ The white liberals are like, ‘We’re so sad.”