Tiffany Cross said she was “disheartened” by the sudden cancellation of her MSNBC show “The Cross Connection” on Friday morning and questioned that the decision happened four days before the Nov. 8 midterm elections.
“I am disheartened to learn of MSNBC’s decision to cancel The Cross Connection, at such a crucial time—four days before the midterm elections,” Cross said in a message posted to Twitter. “From the beginning, we were intentional about centering communities of color, elevating issues and voices often ignored by the mainstream media, and disrupting the echo chambers. As a result, viewers consistently made The Cross Connection MSNBC’s highest rated weekend show.”
Cross and her staff were notified of the show’s cancellation Friday morning, according to an individual with knowledge. Her last show was last Saturday.
“Fresh off the heels of a racial reckoning,’ as so many have called it, we see that with progress there is always backlash,” Cross wrote. “Now is not the time to retreat to politics or Journalism as usual. It is my hope that the last two years at MSNBC have been disruptive and transformative, changing how politics are discussed and making policy more digestible. It was the opportunity of a lifetime to create a show the culture would be proud to keep trending every weekend.”
Saying her time at MSNBC “ended abruptly” and came as a surprise, Cross assured her more than 4.6 million monthly viewers that her she will continue to speak up. “My work is not done. Political violence is increasing and it’s becoming inherently more dangerous to speak the truth. But, after more than 20 years in Journalism, I will not stop. The attacks on me from other outlets and former hosts will never control my narrative.”
Aside from Cross, no other staffing changes have been made. A rotating group of anchors will fill in during her time block on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET while the network searches for a replacement. There is no timeline as to when a new show will be announced.
At the end of her own segment, MSNBC’s Joy Reid blamed the cancellation on “those on the far-right attacking her on a social media app that I won’t name.’ While she didn’t mention Tucker Carlson or Elon Musk by name,” she stated her full support of Cross, whom she called, “friend, colleague, and sister.”
“You don’t understand how sisters move,” Reid told viewers. “So, watch this space. We will be here, her sisters will be here to support anything Tiffany Cross ever does. Know that. Believe that.”
Journalist and author Jemele Hill also rallied to Cross’s defense on Twitter, writing, “I’m outraged by the news that MSNBC is ending Tiffany Cross’s brilliant show.” It’s the highest-rated weekend show. Tiffany’s departure looks even funnier in the light because it comes after she rightly criticized white supremacist poster boy Tucker Carlson.”
Others questioned why the network canceled Cross’s show, but kept “Meet the Press,” which is hosted by Chuck Todd. In August, The Daily Beast reported that producer David P. Gelles, “was parachuted in to help fix the sinking show… [his] first order of business, multiple sources said, is deciding what to do about Chuck Todd, who despite recently signing a two-year extension, as Confider has learned, has baffled many at NBC with how long he’s remained atop the struggling show.
