MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ host says he was surprised and disappointed the show was pulled from the air

MSNBC “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough said Tuesday he was “surprised and disappointed” the news show was pulled off the air the day before and hasn’t received a good explanation about why.

The four-hour morning news and talk show, a favorite of President Joe Biden and his fans, was pre-empted Monday in favor of a live news feed from the NBC News Now streaming service that was focused on covering the aftermath of Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

Scarborough said he was told Sunday night that all of NBC News channels would be working from a single, consistent feed for the entire day Monday.

“That did not happen,” he said on “Morning Joe” Tuesday. “We don’t know why that didn’t happen. Our team was not given a good answer as to why that did not happen, but it didn’t happen.”

An MSNBC spokesman did not immediately return messages seeking comment on Tuesday.

The pre-emption attracted attention on Monday morning, particularly after CNN reported that MSNBC management was concerned that one of the show’s cast of commentators or guests would make an inappropriate comment. MSNBC said that was not true. “Morning Joe,” like other shows on the network, has often been bitingly critical of Trump.

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