Daily Kos Founder Banned From MSNBC After “Cheap Shot” At Joe Scarborough
Following a harsh exchange between MSNBC host Joe Scarborough and Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas on Twitter in May, Moulitsas writes today that he has been banned (for now) from appearing on the network.
He publishes an email from MSNBC President Phil Griffin explaining the reasoning (a “cheap shot”), but Moulitsas concludes he has “been booted from the network because of a Scarborough temper tantrum.”
Moulitsas writes today on Daily Kos about the circumstances in a post “Why I am blacklisted by MSNBC“. “In case you were wondering why you haven’t seen me on MSNBC recently, it seems that Joe Scarborough, he of the lowest rated morning show in cableland, has blackballed me,” he writes. “And Phil Griffin, the alleged president of MSNBC, is going along with it.”
This all started because of one particular tweet by Moulitsas which he gets into in the Kos post, but references an unfounded rumor about Scarborough’s time in Congress. Griffin called this an “ugly cheap shot” in an on-the-record email published in the post.
I asked the teams to take a break from booking you on our shows for a while. I found the comments to be in poor taste, and utterly uncalled for in a civil discourse.
I’m hoping this will be only temporary and that the situation can be resolved in a mature fashion, but until then I just don’t know how one could reasonably expect to be welcomed onto our network while publicly antagonizing one of our hosts at the same time.
Moulitsas had been a semi-regular guest on Ed Schultz‘ show as well as Countdown with Keith Olbermann. We’ll see when he’s back.
And speaking of Olbermann, he hasn’t weighed in yet on Twitter on Moulitsas but he has about NBC’s Amy Robach. A fan asked “Keith!! How goes Operation Save Amy Robach’s Career from having to do features about Cougar Conventions, by coming 2 Contdwn.” Olbermann’s response:
I think she’s said previously that she made the choice not to be on Countdown
Interesting. Stay tuned for more on all the comings and goings at MSNBC.
