‘Go…Yourself!’: Don Lemon Rips Megyn Kelly a New One for Celebrating MSNBC’s Cancellation of ‘The ReidOut,’ As Joy Reid Signs Off with Fierce Rebuke of Trump
On her final MSNBC show Monday, Joy Reid blasted President Donald Trump’s anti-diversity agenda after a tumultuous first month of his second term, declaring, “Fascism isn’t just coming, it’s already here.”
Her terse parting words came the same day the network’s new president, Rebecca Kutler, announced in a memo to staff that Reid’s prime-time show was being canceled. This abruptly ended her five-year run at the network as an anchor and progressive political analyst.
“Joy Reid is leaving the network and we thank her for her countless contributions over the years,” Kutler wrote without explanation, according to the Associated Press, which received a copy of the memo.
Reports of The ReidOut’s cancellation surfaced online over the weekend, drawing backlash from supporters who praised the role of the show in amplifying marginalized voices.
The network has faced backlash from prominent progressives over the show’s cancellation.
However, Trump wasted no time lashing out on social media, calling Reid a “mentally obnoxious racist” and then turning his wrath against the billionaire owner of the network for giving Reid a job in the first place.
“Lowlife Chairman of ‘Concast,’ Brian Roberts, the owner of Ratings Challenged NBC and MSDNC, has finally gotten the nerve up to fire one of the least talented people in television, the mentally obnoxious racist, Joy Reid. Based on her ratings, which were virtually non-existent, she should have been ‘canned’ long ago, along with everyone else who works there.
Also thrown out was Alex Wagner, the sub on the seriously failing Rachel Maddow show. Rachel rarely shows up because she knows there’s nobody watching, and she also knows that she’s got less television persona than virtually anyone on television except, perhaps, Joy Reid,” the president wrote.
Trump’s visceral reaction underscored how much Reid had gotten under his skin—and that of others on the right—during her time on The ReidOut. The show had been a staple of MSNBC’s lineup since 2020, featuring interviews with politicians and newsmakers on politics, race, culture, and social justice. Reid’s unapologetic commentary was often critical of Trump and the Republican Party, and video segments from her news show frequently went viral on social media.
The controversy over Reid’s sudden dismissal dominated the airwaves, reaching peak-level venom when former CNN host-turned-independent journalist Don Lemon bluntly told conservative voice Megyn Kelly to “Go f–k yourself!” after she publicly celebrated Reid’s firing.
Lemon made the disparaging comment during his daily YouTube show, where he called out Kelly after she wrote on X Sunday morning: “Remember when Joy Reid laughingly mocked ‘white women tears’ as pathetic and offensive to her? Who’s crying now, Joy? Good riddance to the absolute worst person on television, and shame on NBC for letting it go on this long.”
Kelly’s mention of “white women tears” ties back to Reid’s 2021 comments during Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial for fatally shooting two men during riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, a year earlier.
In a TikTok video, Reid likened Rittenhouse’s emotional testimony to Brett Kavanaugh’s during his Supreme Court confirmation, saying: “In America, there’s a thing about both white vigilantism and white tears, particularly male white tears. Really, white tears in general, because that’s what Karens are, right? They Karen out, and then as soon as they get caught, it’s bring the waterworks.”
Lemon, who abruptly lost his job at CNN in April 2023, fired back at Kelly on Monday.
“The worst person? No, Megyn Kelly! The worst person on television was fired from NBC and The Today Show a few years ago, and that’s Megyn Kelly. That’s the worst person who’s not on television anymore—it’s you.”
Kelly lost her own NBC daytime show in October 2018 after an episode where she downplayed the controversy of white people wearing blackface on Halloween.
Meanwhile, Reid joined a YouTube-streamed call late Sunday with Win With Black Women, where she revealed that Monday would be her final show. She admitted to experiencing “every emotion, from anger, rage, disappointment, hurt, feeling guilt that I let my team lose their jobs. But in the end, where I really land and where I have landed on today is just gratitude.”
Reid stood by her hard-hitting coverage, saying she had no regrets about calling out Trump’s assault on the Constitution or highlighting the right of Americans to oppose the bombing of children in Gaza.
“My show had value,” she said on the call, listing the range of topics her team tackled each day. “Whether it was the Black Lives Matter issues … (or) talking about Gaza and the fact that we as the American people have … a right to object to little babies being bombed … I am not sorry that I stood up for those things.”
In separate social posts, Reid expressed gratitude to those who had sent her messages of support over the weekend.
“I just want to say thank you to everyone who has reached out with kindness and encouragement, both personally and in these social media streets,” Reid wrote in a message posted to BlueSky and Instagram just after midnight — adding that she was “so very proud” of “The ReidOut” team.
Not one to mince words, Reid began her final broadcast Monday by asking how Americans should resist Trump’s efforts to consolidate power, as his executive orders slash critical programs, eliminate diversity initiatives, weaken oversight, and place independent agencies like the SEC and FTC under his control—moves that critics have called an unprecedented power grab.
“When you are in the midst of a crisis, and specifically a crisis of democracy, how do you resist? When fascism isn’t just coming, it’s already here,” Reid said.
During the final show, fellow MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow, Nicolle Wallace, and Lawrence O’Donnell joined Reid to discuss resistance efforts and share farewell messages.
“I am bereft that The ReidOut is ending,” Maddow said. “I sort of can’t get beyond that. But that is also part of what I have to say to the country about this moment, which is find people who you respect and trust and love and make common cause with them and help yourself by learning from them, and help them by standing up for them.”
Reid ended her final show by personally thanking each member of her production staff and declaring, “We are not going to stop.”
In January, The ReidOut averaged 817,000 total viewers, slightly below All In with Chris Hayes (822,000) and down from The Beat with Ari Melber (892,000). However, it outperformed CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront, which drew 584,000. In the key 25-54 demo, The ReidOut trailed Burnett’s show, averaging 74,000 viewers to CNN’s 120,000, per Nielsen.
Reid has earned numerous accolades throughout her career. Just this past weekend, she won two NAACP Image Awards—one for The ReidOut as an outstanding news series and another for outstanding literary work for her biography Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America.
MSNBC’s shake-up extends beyond The ReidOut cancellation. In Monday’s staff memo, Kutler outlined additional changes to the weekday and weekend lineup, set to take effect in late April.
Kutler said that rotating anchors would fill Reid’s time slot. Eventually, Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez—hosts of The Weekend—will take over the 7 p.m. hour with a new ensemble news program, according to the memo.
Jen Psaki will take over the 9 p.m. slot Tuesday through Friday, replacing Alex Wagner, who will stay on as a senior political analyst. Rachel Maddow’s show returns to Mondays at 9 p.m. after Trump’s first 100 days, according to AP.
Kutler, a former CNN executive who joined MSNBC in 2022, officially became president on Feb. 12 after briefly serving as interim following Rashida Jones’ resignation last month.
Also on Monday, NBC veteran Lester Holt announced plans to step down as anchor of “Nightly News” by early summer to take on a larger role with “Dateline.”