Black news anchors are disappearing from NBC, and Saturday Night Live star Michael Che is sounding an alarm.
Che is the only Black comedian to ever co-anchor SNL‘s “Weekend Update” satire news segment.
On the March 1 installment, Che called out his corporate bosses at NBCUniversal for ousting MSNBC host Joy Reid. With a graphic over his shoulder showing Reid and outgoing Nightly News anchor Lester Holt, Che put NBC brass on notice.
“This week, MSNBC fired its only non-white primetime host,” Che said, referring to Reid. “And Lester Holt announced he is stepping down as the anchor of NBC Nightly News.”
The on-screen graphic changed to a picture of Che sitting at the “Weekend Update” desk, before he joked: “Well NBC, only one more to go, baby!”
Related: Joy Reid Signs Off MSNBC With Message About ‘Fighting Back’
While the comedian is not a real news anchor and was apparently joking, Reid’s exit from MSNBC was no laughing matter for her supporters.
The New York Times broke the news on Sunday, Feb. 23, that Reid’s primetime show had been canceled and she was leaving MSNBC.
That night, Win With Black Women — a collective of Black women leaders in politics, tech, sports, music, entertainment, and media — held an emergency Zoom meeting to announce a boycott of the cable news network.
Organizers said 10,000 people joined the meeting, immediately reaching the maximum number of participants the recording would accommodate. An overflow livestream was quickly set up on YouTube, where thousands more listened.
Reid spoke during the call and said she was overwhelmed by the support. “My heart is so full,” she told the group before breaking down in tears.
While The ReidOut host acknowledged she had detractors, she told supporters she had no regrets for bringing attention to key issues on her show, including race, and protecting the U.S. constitution from Trump administration policies.
“Whether it was the Black Lives Matter issues… or when we opened up people’s eyes to the fact that Asian Americans were being targeted… or went hard for immigrants… or whether we’ve talked about what the president is doing that is subversive to the Constitution… I’m not sorry,” Reid said.
She added, “My show had value.”
The next day, Lester Holt announced he will be stepping away from NBC Nightly News this summer. Holt, 65, has been the primary anchor and managing editor of Nightly News for 10 years.
While he’s leaving the newscast, he said in a memo to NBC staff he’ll continue to work on Dateline.
“A smile comes to my face when I think that with Nightly News, and Dateline, I have now anchored two of the most successful and iconic television news programs in broadcast history,” Holt shared on Monday.
Janelle Rodriguez, executive vice president of programming for NBC News, called Holt the “beating heart” of the news division in a statement. She added that he is “taking on a dedicated full-time role at Dateline.” The exact reasons behind the decision are unclear.
Watch Michael Che make his comments in the video below.
Discover more from Urban Hollywood 411
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
