MSNBC’s Joy Reid Responds to Controversy Over Muslim Comments

Joy Reid (MSNBC YouTube)

MSNBC host Joy Reid said Wednesday her recent on-air comments about Muslims may have missed the mark.

Reid stopped short of apologizing, but acknowledged that her framing of a question about President Trump, on the Aug. 31 episode of The ReidOut, may have been poorly worded.

Her statement came after she received backlash for the Monday evening broadcast where she said Trump is “radicalizing” his far-right supporters in a similar fashion to “how we talk about the way Muslims act.” She was referring to Trump’s visit to Kenosha, Wisconsin, and said the president is trying to stir up racial divisions ahead of the November election.

Related Story: Michelle Obama Urges Voters to ‘Stand in Line All Night’ to Oust Trump

On Wednesday night, Reid said she had become the target of online hate for the comments, but she also took a stance and admitted that she may have gone too far.

“If Trump was a Muslim leader, not the leader of the Christian right, how would we in the media describe what he’s doing?” she asked. “I asked that question on Monday and there was a lot of conversation, particularly online, after the segment aired, some of which was frankly not in good faith.”

Still, she admitted she should have shown more sensitivity with her words.

“But some of the conversations reflected the genuine feelings of people who have been subjected to the kind of stereotyping that I described and who take matters like this to heart because of it,” she explained. “And we should all be sensitive to that and I certainly should have been sensitive to that.”

She ended by admitting her comments “obviously didn’t work” and said it was “not exactly the most artful way of asking that question.”