Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday panned Brian Roberts, the chair of NBCUniversal's parent company Comcast, following Ronna McDaniel's ouster from NBC, suggesting he has no control over the network.
"The sick degenerates over at MSDNC are really running NBC, and there seems nothing Chairman Brian Roberts can do about it," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday. "Watching Chuck Todd, of all people, viciously giving Roberts a piece of his small mind, and then berating him for hiring Ronna without his, or the other lunatics, approval, was just a step too far."
McDaniel, the former Republican National Committee chair, was fired Tuesday following intense backlash over her hiring as a paid political analyst for the network.
"There is no doubt that the last several days have been difficult for the News Group," NBCUniversal News Group President Cesar Conde said in a memo to staff. "After listening to the legitimate concerns of many of you, I have decided that Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News contributor."
"I want to personally apologize to our team members who felt we let them down," Conde continued. "While this was a collective recommendation by some members of our leadership team, I approved it and take full responsibility for it."
McDaniel's hiring was quickly met with reprimands from staff at NBC and MSNBC, with Todd, NBC News' chief political analyst, publicly rebuking the network.
"There's a reason a lot of journalists at NBC News are uncomfortable with this," Todd said, explaining that under McDaniel, the RNC engaged in "gaslighting" and "character assassination" when dealing with the news media.
MSNBC hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough also protested the decision.
"To be clear, we believe NBC News should seek out conservative Republican voices to provide balance in their election coverage, but it should be conservative Republicans, not a person who used her position of power to be an anti-democracy election denier," Brzezinski said. "We hope NBC will reconsider its decision. It goes without saying that she will not be a guest on 'Morning Joe' in her capacity as a paid contributor."