MSNBC appears to have reduced the visibility of several anchors who made comments viewed by some as insensitive and inappropriate in the wake of Hamas’ brutal attacks against Israel, Semafor reported Friday.
The network did not air a Thursday edition of The Mehdi Hasan Show on its streaming platform, reversed course on its plans to have Ayman Mohyeldin fill in for Joy Reid’s 7 o’clock show on Thursday and Friday and intends to have Alicia Menendez replace Ali Velshi this weekend, according to the Semafor report. Hasan shared a post condemning future “Israeli war crimes” on Twitter in the hours after the Hamas attacks, which resulted in the murders of at least 1,300 people, while Mohyeldin called the attack “the deadly consequence of failed policies” and Velshi stated that “there’s no nuance or recognition of anything that has been going on” during an interview with a Palestinian political analyst on the day of the attacks.
Some employees of MSNBC are reportedly concerned with the personnel moves, according to Semafor. In past flare-ups of the Israeli-Palestine conflict, the anchors have adopted positions highly skeptical of Israeli use of force while appearing sympathetic to the Palestinian side in the conflict.
In addition to murdering Israeli soldiers and civilians, Hamas raped numerous women and abducted scores of people to hold as hostages in the Gaza Strip. Some elements of the American left-wing movement have excused or justified the Hamas attacks as a legitimate act of resistance against the Israeli state, which some accuse of being an “apartheid” regime.
NBC, which owns MSNBC, has suggested that these changes are “coincidental,” and that the three anchors in question continue to make appearances on the air and provide analysis, according to Semafor. An official for MSNBC reportedly rejected any contention that Hasan or Mohyeldin have been sidelined.
This past week, Mohyeldin appeared as a guest on several MSNBC television programs, according to Semafor. Mohyeldin did not host Reid’s show, and an official for the network explained that it decided to go with its more well-known weekday program anchors instead of relying on weekend hosts to fill in for Reid.
“We have and will continue to cover the barbaric terrorist attacks on defenseless civilians in Israel last weekend and the tragic war it has provoked thoroughly and in all their dimensions,” NBCUniversal Executive Vice President of Communications Stephen Labaton told Semafor.
MSNBC did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Nick Pope on October 14, 2023
