Joy Reid Named As MSNBC’s Primetime Anchor, Making History As Only Black Woman With Nightly Show

MSNBC has named Joy Reid the primetime anchor on the channel’s 7 p.m. slot. Reid will fill Chris Matthews’ position, making her cable’s first black female primetime news anchor.

President of MSNBC Phil Griffin said, “I’m thrilled to have Joy on five nights a week. She’s thoughtful and brings so much depth to her reporting. She’s made for this moment.”

Since 2016, Reid has hosted the weekend program AM Joy and previously served as a correspondent and hosted the MSNBC afternoon show, the Reid Report.

After accepting her new position, Reid said, “I’m honored and thankful for this opportunity. I’ll always be proud of the work we did on AM Joy by pushing the envelope and tackling pragmatic conversations. I’m eager to carry that same energy into the 7 p.m. hour where we can continue to build on bringing in diverse, smart, and accomplished voices to the table on topics that are important to our viewers.”

On June 24, The Wall Street Journal revealed that Reid was in the running for the anchor spot. They also reported that the show’s start date and title are yet to be determined, but the show will continue to be a daily news and opinion program.

Reid will take the place of Matthews who resigned abruptly from his position in March after allegations claiming he had previously made inappropriate remarks to women. Matthews said during his last show that it was time to let a younger generation “take the reins.” Since Matthews’s absence, MSNBC has rotated hosts while they decided on a permanent anchor. Reid has been one of the regular people to fill in during the transition time.

In 2018, Reid apologized for prior homophobic comments about on an old blog that had been recirculating.

In her apology, Reid said, “I genuinely do not believe I wrote those hateful things because they are completely alien to me. But I can definitely understand, based on things I have tweeted, have written in the past, why some people don’t believe me. For that, I am truly, truly sorry.”