Joy Reid Accused MSNBC of ‘Slow Walking’ Her Story About Russell Simmons Sexual Assault Accuser
MSNBC host Joy Ann Reid — who appears to have just survived her now-infamous “hacked” homophobic blog posts scandal — accused her own network of “slow walking” a sexual assault story she was working on by making “stupid” demands during the fact-checking process.
The accusation was revealed in a story from The Hollywood Reporter on the rape and assault allegations made against the powerful music mogul Russell Simmons. One of the half dozen misconduct claims comes against Simmons from domestic violence advocate Sil Lai Abrams, who says he raped her in 1994 — an allegation she was ready to bring forward in a TV interview with Reid.
“I needed to tell my story, to say his name out loud, to let people know what he had done to me,” Abrams said of her claims against Simmons.
However, her story was never told on MSNBC, as the cable news network eventually canned the story after Reid and Abrams had already shot and prepared a segment in January. An NBC News flack told The Hollywood Reporter they opted to not air it after they conducted an investigation into Abrams’ claims and decided in April that the story did not meet the network’s standards.
“When MSNBC pursues any investigative story our mission is always to be as thorough as we can, to scrutinize sources and corroborate information before we report,” said a spokesperson for the network. “Anything else falls short of our journalistic standards.”
Reid also gave a statement explaining why she accused MSNBC of “slow walking” Abrams’ story with “stupid” requests:
“Investigative reports like these take time, and not surprisingly, sometimes journalists get frustrated as well. I inappropriately shared that frustration privately with Sil Lai. I completely respect MSNBC’s standards and practices. Meticulous research to get the facts right was the only option, especially given the seriousness of the allegations.”
Reid is also not the first person to accuse NBC of botching sexual misconduct claims, as they came under fire for not pursuing the Harvey Weinstein story that led to the rise of #MeToo movement. That decision led investigative reporter Ronan Farrow to give his bombshell story to the New Yorker, rather than NBC News — his usual partner. Additionally, the network was criticized for their handling of in-house allegations against ex-Today Show host Matt Lauer.
As for Reid’s own issues, NBC News stood by the host — albeit, even with her throwing them under the bus in the Abrams-Simmons controversy — after she seemingly lied about her old blog being hacked by nefarious actors who supposedly planted homophobic, conspiratorial, and other disturbing content on the now-defunct site. As is clear now, the likely nefarious actor behind the highly controversial posts on the liberal pundit’s blog was Reid herself — something she even came close to admitting in her quasi-apology on the matter.
Despite this shot at Reid’s integrity, NBC opted to continue airing her weekend morning program AM Joy and has featured the pundit on other MSNBC shows.
[image via screengrab]
