MSNBC Shocker: Joy Reid & Alex Wagner Axed in Major Shake-Up

Dan Clarendon February 23, 2025, 10:28 am

It’s anchors aweigh at MSNBC. Joy Reid and Alex Wagner are losing their weeknight primetime slots on the cable news channel, according to multiple reports.

Reid is expected to host the last episode of The ReidOut sometime this week, ending her show’s run of four and a half years, Variety reports. In her stead in that 7/6c slot, The Weekend anchors Symone Sanders-Townsend, Alicia Menendez, and Michael Steele will host a program that will run for two hours on Monday and one hour on the other weeknights, with Menendez becoming the first Latina woman to host a primetime MSNBC news program, per Deadline.

Variety also reports Wagner likely won’t return to her job hosting Alex Wagner Tonight Tuesdays through Fridays at 9/8c. Sources tell the outlet Wagner will be named a correspondent and that other MSNBC personalties will inherit her former time slot once Rachel Maddow goes back to hosting on Monday nights only. Maddow has been hosting her self-named show every weeknight during these first 100 days of Donald Trump’s presidency, while Wagner has been working on a series of special reports titled Trumpland: The First 100 Days.

MSNBC/Shannon Finney

Inside anchor Jen Psaki, pictured at right above, will take over Wagner’s time slot on at least one night, and MSNBC is in conversations with Politico journalist Eugene Daniels and NYU law professor Melissa Murray, both of whom are on-air MSNBC analysts, to appear in that slot on other nights, Variety adds.

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The shake-up comes shortly after Rebecca Kutler replaced Rashida Jones as MSNBC president. Kutler was crucial to the development of The Weekend and Inside With Jen Psaki, Deadline reports.

The outlet adds that Kutler has designs of assembling an MSNBC news team as Comcast prepares to spin off many of NBCUniversal’s cable channels into a new company since MSNBC will no longer have the support of NBC News. Kutler plans to create a news bureau in Washington D.C. with a team of domestic and international correspondents, according to Variety.