Tiffany Cross didn’t want to leave MSNBC, and feels she has more to do.
The outspoken weekend anchor, whose show was cancelled earlier Friday by the NBCUniversal-owned cable outlet, said in a statement Friday night that her freewheeling, outspoken style was on the mark for a disruptive era in politics, and indicated she would continue her work elsewhere.
“I am disheartened to learn of MSNBC’s decision to cancel my show, ‘The Cross Connection,’ at such a crucial time — four days before the midterm elections,” Cross said, while spotlighting the program’s ratings. “And we were intentional about centering marginalized voices of the rising majority — from all communities of color.”
MSNBC cut ties with Cross unexpectedly Friday morning, telling her production staff of the decision Friday morning, according to three people familiar with the matter. A rotating group of anchors will lead her weekend hours until a replacement is found, and the production staff assigned to her show is believed to be likely to stay in place.
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At partial issue, according to people familiar with the matter, are on-air volleys between Cross and commentators like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, who have criticized the MSNBC anchor’s views in recent months, sometimes spurring across to retort. MSNBC executives felt the segments were not up to standards, but Cross supporters wonder why the network didn’t do more to shield her from the criticism. After all, the show drew an average of more than 600,000 last month, according to Nielsen, though it captured fewer viewers than its time-slot rivals on Fox News and CNN.
“Fresh off the heels of a ‘racial reckoning,’ as so many have called it, we see that with progress there is always backlash,” said Cross. “With a career in media spanning two decades from CNN to BET and MSNBC, I have not only navigated newsrooms but built them as well. With a rapidly changing media landscape, I look forward to maintaining a platform that continues to reflect the changing demographics of the country.”
She added: “We know that now is not the time for politics or journalism as usual. The two years I spent at MSNBC have been disruptive and transformative, changing how politics are discussed and making policy more digestible, I hope. It was the opportunity of a lifetime to create a show the culture would be proud to keep trending every weekend. While this journey ended abruptly, surprising many of us, my work is not done. As political violence has reached a fever pitch, it is becoming inherently more dangerous to speak the truth. But I will not stop. The attacks on me from other outlets and former hosts will never control my narrative.. Thank you to my community and fans for your overwhelming advocacy and support. Thank you to the more than 4.6 million monthly viewers. I am forever in awe of you and so grateful. See you soon!”
MSNBC declined to make executives available for comment.
Cross was an essential building block in MSNBC’s efforts to add a broader range of diverse voices to its schedule. After competing in an on-air bake-off of sorts in 2020 with Jonathan Capehart and Zerlina Maxwell to fill weekend hours previously led by Joy Reid, Cross has presided over a loose but chatty program that she also promoted heavily on social media.
Cross, a former Washington bureau chief for BET, had worked as a political analyst for MSNBC and was a former resident fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics.
