Jesse Ventura Claims MSNBC Bought His Silence For Opposing Iraq War
In the midst of promoting his TruTV show “Conspiracy Theory,” Jesse Ventura casually dropped what sounded like a conspiratorial claim of his own. Speaking to the LA Times, “The Body” told an interviewer that when MSNBC found out that he opposed the war in Iraq, the network “silenced” him by canceling his cable show and refusing to let him host any other news programs.From the LA Times:
This is not your first venture into TV hosting since leaving the governorship. What happened to “Jesse Ventura’s America,” which ran briefly on MSNBC in 2003?
It was awful. I was basically silenced. When I came out of office, I was the hottest commodity out there. There was a bidding war between CNN, Fox and MSNBC to get my services. MSNBC ultimately won. I was being groomed for a five day-a-week TV show by them. Then, all of a sudden, weird phone calls started happening: “Is it true Jesse doesn’t support the war in Iraq?”
My contract said I couldn’t do any other cable TV or any news shows, and they honored and paid it for the duration of it. So in essence I had my silence purchased. Why do you think you didn’t hear from me for three years? I was under contract. They wouldn’t even use me as a consultant!
When you live in Mexico, your houses all have names. I almost named my house Casa MSNBC because they bought it. I was paid like a professional athlete, and I got very wealthy. For doing nothing.
Jesse Ventura’s America was on the air for less than four months, from October to December of 2003, and aired only on Saturdays. According to the Star-Tribune (article no longer online; see post #24 on the thread), the show averaged 249,000 viewers — a 39% bump up from the nature documentaries and such previously in the slot, but not exactly a home run. Whether MSNBC dropped Ventura for his political views may ultimately be known only by Ventura and the network, but he hardly had unimpeachable stats.
Still, that “Conspiracy Theory” show looks pretty cool. Maybe there’s a Casa TruTV on the way?
Here’s a clip from Jesse Ventura’s America, in case you want to know what all the fuss is about:
16 comments
m says: I remember when the media climate was 1 liberal and 2 conservatives and anyone speaking out against the war was considered unpatriotic. This includes MSNBCs decision to fire Donahue (even though I’m aware it was because his show was too expensive, lets get real – his opposition to the war must’ve been a big factor too).
Well, at least we got one good thing out from MSNBC due to the Iraqi war – Keith Olbermann. For quite a while he was the only outspoken liberal on TV.
keithns1 says: I’ll bet that although Jesse and MSNBC are pretty much aligned politically, Jesse is way too much like a bull in a china shop for them to unleash him on their network. MSNBC likes to maintain their political stance but not near as loudly as Jesse does. If Jesse Ventura ever did make it to high office in US politics again, lots of Republican Congressmen would either quit or stop running for office.
Yesterday I heard a Republican say that Obama confiscated General Motors and the liberal news host let that comment by unchallenged. Jesse would have nailed that Republican up against the wall with questions and corrections.
TfT says: Oh brother — Jesse’s 15 minutes of fame are up, long ago.
And, speaking of silence…….climategate (shhhhhh). The media is embarrassing itself again.
Jim R says: This is entirely keeping with the acquiescence of the media in general and MSNBC/NBC/GE in particular. Besides letting Donahue go Ashley Bansfield was fired under very strange circumstances and she as well was under contract and being paid but shunted aside.
Also, we know Mary Matalin stated they preferred Cheney go on Meet The Press with the vaunted Tim Russert because they had the best chance to get their message out the way they wanted.
I read a report, and maybe someone could confirm this or disprove it, that Jack Welch was standing behind Matthews and Russert when they started reporting on “shock and awe” at the beginning of the Iraq war.
Maybe letting a few “liberal” opinion shows run on MSNBC is somehow therapeutic for GE, assuaging their conscience while enjoying watching wingnut heads explode over Olberman and Maddow, et al.
roxsteady says: I suspect that Ventura was no held back because of his views. No, I’m guessing it was the dismal ratings that did him in. While I like Olbermann and Maddow I’m not sure why people keep camparing them to fox. Fox doesn’t have a liberal on for 3 hours a day. I can’t stand Scarborough or that Star Search Spokesmodel Mika. I was thrilled to learn that they are dead last in the cable morning show ratings. This is likely because it was liberals who pumped up his numbers during the campaign. They should simply cancel Morning Joe because his show is just awful. If we wanted to watch lies and spin we’d just watch fox.
shootfromthehip says: Jesse is a great voice that someone needs to tap. He nails hypocrites to the wall — Dems and Republicans alike. Maybe that scared MSNBC.
roxsteady says: Actually, if you watch MSNBC at all, you should only watch Ed Shultz, Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow. Or if you’re into lies and spin, faux news is for you.
Pat Doherty says: I’m really tired of this guy.
jimmymaher says: MSNBC did try to imitate Fox (CNN did too) once Fox jumped to first in the ratings after 9-11. MSNBC had the Hero Wall, which was full of pictures of soldiers that family members had sent in and they even had a Bald Eagle fly onto the screen with a big American flag before commercial breaks. They also gave Alan Keyes a daily show.
But when it became clear they weren’t going to beat Fox, they went back to the typical liberal stuff.
m says: Went back? MSNBC has just been fully liberal for barely over a year. 14 months ago Dan Abrams and David Gregory had prime time shows. Wasn’t until they hired Schultz 7-8 months ago that MSNBC clearly went left.
Jesse is a 9/11 truther — I don’t care to hear anything else he has to say.
ImNotBlue says: roxsteady says:
November 28, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Serious question… do you know the difference between “fact” and “opinion.”
It baffles me that someone can’t see the similiarities between FNC and MSNBC… both with hosts who are clearly opinionated. However, if you can’t recognize opinion, and perpetually believe that left-wing opinion is simply the “truth,” it would explain what you’re missing.
m says: Well, if conservatives didn’t mix up facts and opinion then you’d all be behind the reality of climate change, right? Or the fact that evolution, and not the superstition of creationism, is the truth – right?
But I guess somehow all academic institutions in the world aren’t doing science but instead conducting opinion with the scientific method in both global warming and evolution – somehow.
Plenty of conservatives are anti-science down to the bone, so any conservative that tells anyone else they shouldn’t mix opinion and facts I just don’t take seriously.
ImNotBlue says: m says:
November 30, 2009 at 8:22 am
So what you’re essentially saying is, “You may be right… but because you’re not on ‘my side,’ I won’t listen to you. It’s not that YOU’VE said anything like that, but other’s have… so I only have to listen to ‘my’ guys.”
Wow M… I thought you were a little better than that. Most people become political-bots, but some are able to still maintain rational thought… I guess you’re just on auto-pilot now. If the left says it… it’s good. If the right says it… it’s bad. You’ve given up your thought… I guess that makes things easy.
Anyway… we’re not talking politics, we’re talking journalism… fact vs opinion. But perhaps you can’t tell the difference either…
Sunnyr says: This IDIOT’S 15 minutes were up long ago. Why won’t he just go away? He is repulsive.
m says: ImNotBlue, nope. I’m just saying that anyone who belongs to the same group of people who deny basic scientific truths don’t have the moral high ground when it comes to lecturing people what’s opinion and what’s facts. This means you.
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