Of all the candidates at Wednesday night's MSNBC Democratic presidential debate, Andrew Yang spoke the least. Someone had to speak the least, but Yang is upset that it was him. But far be it from me to stick up for MSNBC.
In a series of tweets, Yang outlined his grievances against the network. Yang said he was asked by MSNBC to appear on their network this weekend, but Yang told the network he would do so only after his list of demands was met. Yang wants an official on-air apology from the network, he wants his campaign included in discussions, and he wants surrogates of his campaign to represent him on the network like other campaigns are allowed to do.
Yang then accused the network of omitting him from their graphics "12+ times" and inaccurately calling the candidate "John Yang" on live television. After bellyaching about the network's treatment of his campaign, Yang tweeted, "This is actually bad for MSNBC. It will only get worse after I make the next debates and keep rising in the polls."
Was asked to appear on @msnbc this weekend - and told them that I’d be happy to after they apologize on-air, discuss and include our campaign consistent with our polling, and allow surrogates from our campaign as they do other candidates’. They think we need them. We don’t.
— Andrew Yang?? (@AndrewYang) November 23, 2019
They’ve omitted me from their graphics 12+ times, called me John Yang on air, and given me a fraction of the speaking time over 2 debates despite my polling higher than other candidates on stage. At some point you have to call it.
— Andrew Yang?? (@AndrewYang) November 23, 2019
The whole time we have gotten stronger. This is actually bad for MSNBC. It will only get worse after I make the next debates and keep rising in the polls. The people are smarter than MSNBC would like to think.
— Andrew Yang?? (@AndrewYang) November 23, 2019
Yang then asked his one million followers to donate to his campaign to help the candidate reach the people directly.