'Morning Joe' host Scarborough addresses being off air, criticizes network: 'We were very disappointed'

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MSNBC co-host comments on his show being kept off-air

MSNBC co-host Joe Scarborough comments on his show not airing on Monday, July 15.

"Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough criticized his network on the air Tuesday after his show was left off the air a day earlier in the aftermath of the assassination attempt against former President Trump. 

The MSNBC program was replaced by NBC News special reporting a day earlier, leaving political and media observers surprised that the show was sidelined at a historic political moment.

Returning to the airwaves, Scarborough took some time at the top of the show's second hour on Tuesday to address the confusion.

"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 said, referring in part to NBC's parent network and his home at MSNBC, the left-leaning cable affiliate. "That was going to be one news feed across all NBC News channels. That we were going to stay as a network in breaking news mode throughout all day yesterday. That did not happen. We don’t know why that didn’t happen. Our team was not given a good answer as to why that didn’t happen, but it didn’t happen."

Fox News Digital reported Monday that the show's producers and hosts had been informed that would be the case but were left shocked and upset when it appeared to be the only significant MSNBC program on Monday to be sidelined.

MSNBC's "Morning Joe" hosts address their viewers on July 16, 2024, over why they were absent a day earlier.

"We were very surprised," Scarborough said on Tuesday. "We were very disappointed. And if we had known that there wasn’t going to be the one news feed from NBC News across all NBC News channels, Willie [Geist], we obviously would have been in yesterday morning."

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Scarborough quipped the next time the hosts are told a news feed would be replacing them, they would be in their chairs and ready to broadcast. Brzezinski and co-host Willie Geist added they wanted to be on air yesterday. 

"This show began, and continues 17 years later on being the place where you can go to have the hard conversations in a civil way. So it seemed like, now more than ever, is a day, a time that we would like to be on. I think our viewers agree with that," Brzezinski said.

A network spokesman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

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The hosts and production team of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" were "shocked" on Monday by the circumstances of their show's benching in the aftermath of the stunning assassination attempt on Trump, Fox News Digital first reported.

According to a network source, the show's production team was informed by network leadership Cesar Conde – the chair of NBCUniversal News Group – and Rashida Jones – the president of left-leaning cable affiliate MSNBC – that all MSNBC programming on Monday would be supplanted until primetime by a single NBC News programming feed, which would presumably air across all NBC platforms. Scarborough and Brzezinski assented to the plan.

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump attends Day 1 of the Republican National Convention (RNC), at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., July 15, 2024.  (REUTERS/Callaghan O'hare)

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But NBC's "Today" aired a new episode Monday morning and most of MSNBC's regular programming proceeded as usual after "Morning Joe," with hosts like Andrea Mitchell and Chris Jansing taking their chairs on a busy news day that included the announcement of Ohio Sen. JD Vance as Trump's 2024 running mate and the dismissal of classified document charges against Trump in Florida. 

Left-wing political hosts Nicolle Wallace, Joy Reid and Rachel Maddow led the network's Republican National Convention coverage in the late afternoon and evening.

The network came under fire for sidelining one of its signature shows on Monday, especially after a CNN report said one of the reasons for the decision was fear that a "Morning Joe" guest could say something inappropriate in the wake of Trump's shooting. An MSNBC spokesman staunchly denied that report.

One of the most influential shows in politics and media, "Morning Joe" is a hotbed of anti-Trump commentary and its hosts are friendly with President Biden.

At the outset of the show on Monday, Scarborough castigated the security failings that allowed Trump to be nearly killed in Pennsylvania. The former president was wounded and one of his supporters was killed in the shooting, while two others were critically hurt. 

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Fox News' David Rutz and Brian Flood contributed to this report.