Hannity Says His Defense of Joy Reid Played ‘Big Role’ in MSNBC Not Firing Her (Video)

The Fox News host says an executive from NBC News told him as much

Sean Hannity
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Sean Hannity said an NBC News executive credited him for keeping Joy Reid in 2018 on the air after the MSNBC host faced fallout from her old blog posts.

Hannity’s comments arose Monday night while interviewing Rick Santorum about his recent ouster from CNN. He noted, “I don’t believe in boycotts, Senator. I have never supported one. I never will.”

Hannity pointed first to his defense of Bill Maher in 2014 and then his defense of Reid in 2018.

“When Joy Reid was in trouble, I was called by an NBC executive that said, ‘Your public comments played a big role in us being able to keep her,’ meaning her job. She wrote me a nice note,” he said. “I said people can make mistakes and move on, but not anymore.”

A representative for MSNBC did not immediately return a request to confirm Hannity’s statement.

The conservative primetime host lamented that “nobody wants to hear” apologies anymore.

In 2017, Reid apologized for blog posts she wrote from 2007 to 2009 that used language criticized as homophobic to mock former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.

“This note is my apology to all who are disappointed by the content of blogs I wrote a decade ago, for which my choice of words and tone have legitimately been criticized. As a writer, I pride myself on a facility with language — an economy of words or at least some wisdom in the selection,” Reid said in a statement provided to TheWrap.

“However, that clearly has not always been the case.”

The fallout from the old blog posts lasted months. Reid at times claimed the blog had been hacked and rumors of her firing swept social media well into 2018. She was not fired and, in fact, moved from weekends to her own 7 p.m. ET show on the network last year.

Watch Hannity’s comments above.

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