The supposed luminaries on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" helmed by Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough were back on the airwaves on Tuesday morning after being unceremoniously yanked on Monday — as Townhall covered — in the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday.
In a less than graceful return that only added to the appearance of NBC News admitting its flagship political roundtable show couldn't be trusted to be sane and normal, Joe and Mika on Tuesday attacked their own network and contradicted the narrative executives tried to use as an excuse for preempting "Morning Joe" on Monday.
"We were told in no uncertain terms on Sunday evening that there was going to be one news feed across all NBC News channels yesterday," Scarborough stated, adding "we were going to stay, as a network, in breaking news mode all day yesterday."
"That did not happen," Scarborough emphasized. "We don't know why." What's more, the co-host said the "Morning Joe" "team was not given a good answer."
Scarborough said he and the show "were told" by the network that breaking news would replace opinion shows "throughout the day," but that didn't actually happen. "I guess they changed their plans," he quipped.
"We were very surprised, we were very disappointed, and if we had known that there wasn't going to be the one newsfeed...across all NBC News channels, we obviously would have been in yesterday morning," said Scarborough, seemingly threatening defiance of the network brass.
Following it up with a more direct ultimatum, Scarborough said that the "next time we're told there's going to be a news feed replacing us, we will be in our chairs and the news feed will be us — or they can get somebody else to host the show."
WATCH:
🔥WATCH: Joe Scarborough just took an on-air swipe at NBC leadership for yanking yesterday’s “Morning Joe.”
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) July 16, 2024
“We were very surprised. We were very disappointed,” says @JoeNBC.
Scarborough also says NBC had told him MSNBC opinion shows would be pre-empted throughout Monday.… pic.twitter.com/jg2yxsD6ip
According to a CNN report on the decision not to broadcast "Morning Joe" on Monday (emphasis added), "Cesar Conde, the chairman of NBCUniversal News Group, made the decision in conjunction with Rashida Jones, the president of MSNBC, and hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, the person familiar with the matter told CNN."
The co-hosts apparently feel that they got played — that is, they realized NBC News didn't trust them not to "make an inappropriate comment on live television that could be used to assail the program and network as a whole," as CNN explained.
The power-tripping duo still felt emboldened to threaten their network on its air, and in so doing proved executives' worries correct, but Joe and Mika have good reason to feel empowered to make executive decisions or threaten to walk if they're taken off the air again. The spat over NBC News hiring former RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel as a contributor saw a mutiny among the network's on-air talent and, not understanding the idea of peace through strength, executives caved to an outrage mob in no time, canceling McDaniel's deal and giving more power to the inmates running the asylum.