MSNBC Set to Reward Leading Russia Conspiracy Theorist With Primetime Show
Richard Moorhead
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MSNBC is reportedly preparing to promote on-air personality Joy Reid with a 7PM weekday show, rewarding the liberal media favorite with the primetime TV slot formerly occupied by anchor Chris Matthews. Matthews was drummed out of the network in March in a #MeToo scandal, becoming the latest in a long line of older men who were once the mainstay of corporate media networks ‘retired’ after sexual harassment scandals.
Reid is widely known as one of the primary adherents of the various ‘Russian interference’ conspiracy theories advocated by American liberals, broadly alleging a wide-ranging societal operation on the part of supposed Russian bots and trolls to install Donald Trump as President. But consistent reporting of sophisticated Russian plots that failed to surface from Robert Mueller’s 2019 isn’t the only journalistic red flag in her track record.
Reid became the subject of criticism from both progressives and conservatives in 2018 when some of her writings on an old blog were unearthed, in which she had used charged language regarding homosexuality- likening gay men to pedophiles, referring to conservative men such as Rick Scott who she claimed were gay with the title ‘Miss,’ and describing herself as ‘homophobic.’
Crass blog posts from 2009 aren’t really that big of a deal, but it’s how Reid responded to the revelation of the old blog posts that stands out. Reid suggested that the blog posts had been covertly inserted under her byline, claiming that a cybersecurity expert had informed her that an “unknown, external party accessed and manipulated material from my now-defunct blog.”
Reid accusation’s of a stealth hack- in which unknown actors all-but explicitly identified as ‘Russian trolls’ conducted a bizarre operation to frame her for politically incorrect language- was never substantiated by federal law enforcement, despite Reid’s claim that the authorities were investigating the situation.
You’d think a primetime show host on a major network would at least be able to come up with a better excuse than stealth time-traveling Russian bots framing her for calling male Republican Senators ‘Miss.’ MSNBC doesn’t seem to mind.
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