MSNBC Executives Scramble as Rachel Maddow Considers Leaving When Contract Ends

LGBTQ VOICES - MSNBC executives are reportedly scrambling to figure out what they’ll do if host Rachel Maddow doesn’t renew her contract next year.

The out anchor dominated the primetime news shows, often carrying the network to the top spot over rivals CNN and Fox News.

Maddow has hosted her eponymous show since 2008. Her draw has always been her in-depth nuanced reporting as versus the competition’s tendency to rely on guests and talking heads to discuss current events.

She rose to the top during the Trump administration when she eschewed covering and repeating the former president’s incendiary remarks in favor of examining what the administration was actually doing while Trump distracted everyone.

But Maddow has also stretched herself thin, with multiple books, podcasts and special coverage. She’s previously expressed desire to spend more time with her wife. The two women live in Massachusetts and Maddow commutes to work every day in New York City.

According to the Daily Beast, it isn’t likely that Maddow would jump to another network. Instead, she’d expand her reach into online media, specials, and podcasts.

“Nothing has been decided,” Mark Shapiro, one of her new agents, told the outlet. “We are deep into it with NBCUniversal and Rachel has an excellent relationship with them.”

Autostraddle editor Carmen Phillips may have best summed up the panic felt by the queer community at the idea of losing one of our most visible icons.

“On one hand, of course I want whatever is best for Rachel,” she wrote, “on the other hand if this comes to pass — what will I do without my nightly nerdsbian content?”

(Bil Browning is the Editor-in-Chief of LGBTQ Nation. His personal papers and LGBT activism memorabilia are included in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History archives.)