Let’s Talk About Andrea Tantaros’ Cruel Diss of Mika Brzezinski in Her New Book

Over the past few years, I’ve read a lot of books about news broadcasting, a lot of books about feminist theory, and a few books that combine the two. Most recently, I’ve been digging into Fox darling Andrea Tantaros‘ Tied Up in Knots: How Getting What We Wanted Made Women Miserable. Although I haven’t yet finished entirely and, thus, have not yet gotten around to writing what I am sure will be the book review of all book reviews, one passage has been getting some traction today and I feel compelled to address it. That passage is the opening anecdote from Tied Up in Knots‘ second chapter, “Twisted Sisters,” and it is a hypocritical swipe at another woman in the industry.

Tantaros, who has been mysteriously missing from Fox’s line-up since the day after this book came out, is a staple here at Mediaite because she can always be counted on to say something shocking. Just read some of the headlines we’ve written about her proclamations here. Personalities like hers are valuable in today’s 24/7 news cycle. She makes her assertions with no shame and never, ever backs down on them. Her brand of punditry is a necessary part of how commentary works these days.

In contrast to Tantaros, there is Mika Brzezinski of Morning Joe. She’s level-headed and serves to reel Joe Scarborough back in whenever he gets too feisty early in the morning. She, too, is a necessary presence in the so-called “infotainment” sphere. That’s why she is also a staple here at Mediaite, where we cover the personalities that deliver the news as closely as those who make it.

Cable news fans were undoubtedly shocked to crack Knots and be confronted with an unkind look at Brzezinski on page 12. By her own telling, after she went full-time at Fox, Tantaros stopped appearing on other networks, but remained friendly with them. Brzezinski allegedly did not remain friendly with Tantaros, dramatically pretending not to recognize her for a protracted period of time at a charity function before quipping, “Ohhh… You work at Fox because you’re preeeettty.”

If that really happened, it was a disappointing move on Brzezinski’s part, but how Tantaros countered is even more vile. Tantaros read up on Brzezinski, then waited five years to use a book that is ostensibly about helping other women break free from a unique sort of bonds to question whether the MSNBC host attacked her because of residual self-doubt left over from previous struggles with eating disorders.

No, I’m not lying. Tantaros wrote a book under the guise of helping other women and in that book, she wrote, “Mika had written about struggling with eating disorders in her book Obsessed. Was that why she felt the need to cut down people like me? Was it self-doubt and malicious insecurity?”

A low blow like that — especially one that is dealt after holding a grudge for five years — is unconscionable.

Worse yet, Tantaros went on to dedicate the entire chapter to how mystifying and certain it is that all women “hate each other.” In fact, she opened the “Twisted Sisters” chapter by asserting, “Anytime estrogen is involved, there is bound to be drama.”

That is pure fiction. I am the proud owner of two X chromosomes and I can vouch that drama does not follow me into my relationships with other women. In fact, I prioritize those relationships and value every woman in my life, even those with whom I fundamentally disagree on major issues. Perhaps Tantaros’ presence is the harbinger of drama. Maybe her idea that it is “bound to be” in all female interaction comes from the fact that she is surrounded by the drama she herself brings.

As I mentioned earlier, drama is part of her brand. Wild assumptions and borderline inappropriate interjections are what have propelled her to infamy over at Fox and, again, there is a place for that in the industry. Her knack for dramatics is exemplified in her decision to wait five years to drop a blow on Brzezinski over an incident that it is very likely the older woman forgot all about within a day of it happening.

To use a book meant to help women untie the knots of modern existence to shove another woman’s eating disorder back in her face and generalize that all women are dramatic and silly is irresponsible and cruel. If Tantaros ever gets her job at Fox back, she owes Brzezinski a massive apology.

As far as why she lost that job in the first place (although Fox insists it is only a temporary thing), I think it is safe to assume that it had something to do with, well, drama.

[image via screengrab]

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This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.