Joy Reid will anchor a new nightly show on MSNBC in the 7 p.m. hour beginning July 20, the New York Times reports.
Why it matters: Reid will join a small number of Black women who have hosted nightly news programs on a major network in an industry often dominated by white men.
- Her new show "The ReidOut" will replace veteran host Chris Matthews' "Hardball."
- Matthews retired earlier this year following accusations of inappropriate comments toward women and a number of on-air gaffes.
What she's saying: "Evening and prime-time news has been a universe of white men really since I was growing up," Reid told the Times.
- "For somebody who grew up as a nerdy kid obsessed with news, watching 'Nightline' and 'Meet the Press,' the idea of being a part of that family has always just been kind of overwhelming."
Flashback, via Vox: Reid faced controversy in 2018 after a series of homophobic blog posts from the mid-2000s — before she began her work with MSNBC — surfaced.
- She at first denied making them and suggested that the archives of her blogs may have been hacked, before ultimately apologizing.
- MSNBC stood by her at the time, per the Washington Post, saying the blog posts were "not reflective of the colleague and friend we have known at MSNBC for the past seven years."
