Melissa Harris-Perry, who hosts a weekend show on MSNBC, is now protesting her own show because of repeated pre-emptions during the election season. She wrote to her staff that she has been “shut out from coverage” on the NBC News network.
Harris-Perry hosts a two-hour morning show on MSNBC simply called Melissa Harris-Perry on Saturday and Sunday. The Wake Forest University professor has been hosting the show since 2012, but notes that the network has increasingly pre-empted her show for election coverage. She wrote that she has been asked to change the direction of her show, which typically focuses on social issues, racism and diversity.
The letter to staff was shared on Medium by her friend on Feb. 26. Harris-Perry said that, although the TV guides might say she is on the network this weekend, she will not be taking part in coverage.
“Here is the reality: our show was taken — without comment or discussion or notice — in the midst of an election season,” Harris-Perry wrote. “After four years of building an audience, developing a brand, and developing trust with our viewers, we were effectively and utterly silenced. Now, MSNBC would like me to appear for four inconsequential hours to read news that they deem relevant without returning to our team any of the editorial control and authority that makes MHP Show distinctive.”
Harris-Perry refuses to “be used as a tool for their purposes,” adding that, “I am not a token, mammy, or little brown bobble head.”
She later wrote, “While MSNBC may believe that I am worthless, I know better. I know who I am. I know why MHP Show is unique and valuable. I will not sell short myself or this show. I am not hungry for empty airtime. I care only about substantive, meaningful, and autonomous work.”
She wrote that she will return when she can return to her typical format.
Although she may have hinted that race is an issue in the decisions made by NBC News chairman Andrew Lack and MSNBC president Phil Griffin in the letter, she told the New York Times today that she does not know if this is a factor.
“I don’t know if there is a personal racial component,” Harris-Perry told the Times. “I don’t think anyone is doing something mean to me because I’m a black person.”
“In this exciting and unpredictable presidential primary season, many of our daytime programs have been temporarily upended by breaking political coverage, including M.H.P.,” an NBC spokesman told the Times. “This reaction is really surprising, confusing and disappointing.”
While Harris-Perry is out, Joy Reid will fill in. However, Reid tweeted words of support for Harris-Perry.