Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski sported glum looks as they returned to their Manhattan penthouse after MSNBC reportedly slashed fellow star Rachel Maddow’s salary amid sagging ratings.
The pair’s secret Mar-a-Lago meeting with Donald Trump has resulted in viewers abandoning the liberal network and critics accusing them of hypocrisy, even though they dismissed the controversy on their show Tuesday.
Their careers could be in flux as parent company Comcast looks set to ‘spin-off’ MSNBC amid radical changes which led the co-hosts to joke they could lose that very penthouse earlier this week.
The salaries for key talent appear set for cutbacks, mirroring rivals CNN, with Maddow signing a new deal that will slash her pay from $30 million annually to $25 million.
An anonymous executive called Maddow ‘ratings Viagra,’ regularly drawing significantly more viewers than the rest of the network’s primetime lineup.
Amid the embarrassment, DailyMail.com spotted 57-year-old Brzezinski looking downcast as the couple entered their New York City building Wednesday.
She glared at a photographer as she hopped out of a limo and carried her bags inside, wearing an eye catching ensemble of knee-high boots, a plaid cape and lilac sweater.
Scarborough, 61, looked dapper in a blue suit as he kept his head down.
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski (pictured) sported glum looks as they returned to their Manhattan penthouse, as ratings continue to tank and MSNBC looks set to slash fellow star Rachel Maddow’s salary
The pair’s secret Mar-a-Lago meeting with Donald Trump saw viewers flee and critics slam their hypocrisy, even though the pair dismissed the criticism on their show Tuesday
Amid the embarrassment, DailyMail.com spotted 57-year-old Mika looking downbeat as they entered their New York City building
It was revealed Thursday that ratings for Morning Joe have dropped 15% overall and a whopping 41% in the 25-54 year old demographics cable news crave since the meeting with Trump was revealed.
The show went from 770,000 viewers on Monday, to 680,000 Tuesday, to 647,000 Wednesday, per Variety.
A source told The Ankler that the Morning Joe rebrand of making peace with Trump is part of the network having a come-to-Jesus moment going too far to the left during the election.
‘We were so Harris propaganda that when she lost, viewers were shocked. It turned into one giant circle jerk and echo chamber. If MSNBC wants to be of service to its viewers, they can’t keep them in fantasy land.’
However, keeping the liberal star Maddow for even one night a week on the air was non-negotiable.
‘No one else can do what she does. You can’t build a brand like it overnight.’
Comcast’s move to spin off its NBCUniversal networks would have been a staggering move years ago, with its fleet of channels previously among the company’s most profitable assets.
But the decision will see channels including MSNBC, USA, Oxygen, E!, and Golf Channel branched off onto a separate entity – and separate balance sheet.
Salaries for key talent appear set for cutbacks, mirroring liberal rivals CNN, as Rachel Maddow has signed a new deal slashing her pay from $30 million annually to $25 million
Scarborough and Brzezinski waded into Comcast’s move to spin off their employer MSNBC this week, as he joked that it would mean his wife needs to ‘give up her penthouse’
Morning Joe’s ratings have dropped 15% overall and a whopping 41% in the 25-54 year old demographics cable news crave since the meeting with Trump was revealed.
Comcast executives said that they will not spin off all channels, and will keep Bravo, the Peacock streaming service and the NBC broadcast network under the parent company.
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But by shedding its expensive networks, Comcast is hedging its bets that it can expand its movie studio and theme park industries without being dragged down by the struggles of traditional television news.
It also comes at a delicate time for the Morning Joe anchors after it was revealed that Joe and Mika visited Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago – after a years-long feud that reached a fever pitch when Scarborough likened him to Adolf Hitler – sparking fury among the liberal show’s viewers.
Amid the backlash, Morning Joe staffers have insisted the Florida meeting was ‘f***ing worth it.’
Trump, for his part, told Fox News that he took the meeting because in order to ‘Make America Great Again, it is very important, if not vital, to have a free, fair and open media or press.’
Trump and the ‘Morning Joe’ stars have had a contentious relationship since the Republican entered politics – with Scarborough leaving the Republican party as a result.
During the 2024 election, Morning Joe repeatedly denounced Trump as a racist, sexist, fascist, and told viewers he did not deserve to be president. At one point, Scarborough said Trump was acting ‘full-on Hitler’ and Brzezinski condemned him for echoing the ‘dangerous language of infamous fascist leaders.’
Brzezinski said on Monday they decided to reach out to Trump for ‘the opportunity to speak with the President-elect, himself’ because their viewers and ‘regular citizens’ have expressed fear following Trump’s election and his recent cabinet selections.
It also comes at a delicate time for the Morning Joe anchors after it was revealed that Joe and Mika visited Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago
Trump appeared on the show dozens of times before the pair fell out spectacularly during the 2016 election cycle
Scarborough continued, saying the three ‘talked about a lot of issues, including abortion, mass deportation, threats of political retribution against political opponents and media outlets.’
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Rumors ran rampant that the pair decided to make up with Trump over fears the president-elect would allow Matt Gaetz to lead a probe into conspiracy theories surrounding the 2001 death of Joe Scarborough’s intern. MSNBC denied the story.
Trump used to be routine contributor to Morning Joe, and Scarborough was an early cheerleader for the billionaire’s maverick bid for the GOP nomination in 2016.
But relations soured as Trump pulled off a surprise victory in the Republican primaries and began to look like a serious challenger to the Democrats’ Hillary Clinton.
The four-hour morning show became a bastion of the Democratic establishment after Trump’s first term, with President Joe Biden routinely tuning in while doing his morning exercises to see his acolytes promote the party’s talking points.
With Trump in the White House and Scarborough engaged to co-host Brzezinski he began cementing his show’s identity as an outpost of opposition to the new administration.
The announcement this week from Comcast is indicative of the significant changes the media industry has been hit with in recent years, which has also seen a swathe of outlets forced to downsize their staff numbers.