Tiffany Cross, a former MSNBC host, revealed her experiences of facing criticism from network executives and being part of an anti-Trump “echo chamber.”
She expressed frustration at the network’s focus on Trump coverage and its reluctance to cover issues important to her, despite her show being highly rated.
Cross also mentioned instances of condescension and scrutiny of her scripts, indicating a double standard in treatment compared to White male counterparts.
“I got off air, we were trending. Every single time I did ‘Morning Joe’ we were trending,” Cross said.
Former MSNBC host Tiffany Cross said Thursday she faced “constant criticism” from network executives who questioned her intelligence and wanted her to be part of the anti-Trump “echo chamber.”
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“I want you all to know, every single week from the start of my show to the very last show I did, it was a battle,” Cross said.
“It was a battle to cover things that I wanted to talk about. The network’s philosophy was Trump, Trump, Trump. They wanted me to be part of the echo chamber.”
“I wanted to cover things like inhumane treatment in prisons, that’s something that disproportionately impacts my community. Mental health among Black men, the erasure of Afro-Latinos in the Latino community, land battles of the indigenous, Native Americans trying to get their family artifacts back from museums right here in America. Black farmers, reaching Latino voters, things like that,” Cross said.
“When I would fight these battles, I know ya’ll know exactly what I mean, I was spoken to in the most condescending ways. I mean, anything from being told the definition of news… I would have somebody sit across from me and explain to me how news works,” she added. “I had my intelligence questioned.”
“They wanted me to use the same recycled faces you see all the time, so I really found the constant criticism debilitating at times, but mostly confusing,” Cross said.
“We were routinely the highest rated show of the entire weekend,” she said. “So, I was scratching my head like ‘What ya’ll so mad about?’”
“There is a burden to speaking the truth. It comes with consequence and when you find yourself as the messenger, there is a power structure in place that is not welcoming to our voices,” Cross said. “I was prepared for these battles because I had been fighting them my entire career.”
She highlighted her abrupt dismissal and speculated that her outspokenness and criticism of “White conservatives” may have played a role.
“This was four days before [the 2022] midterms and one day before my show was going to air, we booked an exclusive sit down with Stacey Abrams… that morning I got a call from the president of the network saying they were not going to be renewing my contract, which was up in a month, and that my viewers would not even be given the courtesy or the respect of me not being able to sign off or have a final show,” Cross added.
“When that happens, it suggests to other people in the industry that this person is so unhireable that we could not trust her with a live mic,” she said. “The firing was very abrupt and it was very intentional to my audience, my viewers, that you are not the type of viewers that the company cares about. I was devastated when my show was canceled. I was so sad.”
Additionally, she accused MSNBC of planting negative stories about her.
“The network began attacking me,” Cross said. “They planted hit pieces in the press. The president of the network began a bizarre, unhinged tour where she was on damage control, I don’t know what she was trying to do.”
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