Melissa Harris-Perry, Wake Forest University professor and television talk-show host, is no longer working at MSNBC.
Perry and MSNBC parted ways over the weekend due to a variety of creative differences and the impending cancellation of her beloved Nerdland.
According to Atlanta Blackstar, “In an email posted on the website Medium, Harris-Perry said that she felt disrespected by her network because her show had been preempted several times and off the air for three weeks. She also complained that although she taught politics, she had not been allowed to report on the ongoing presidential election.”
Her departure has sparked a debate over the lack of POC in news spaces and it has turned a spotlight on the liberal news network, MSNBC.
“I will not be used as a tool for their purposes,” she wrote in the email. “I am not a token, mammy or little brown bobble head. I am not owned by (Andrew) Lack, (Phil) Griffin or MSNBC. I love our show. I want it back.”
The network has become less and less diverse over the last two years. Shows with POC anchors were under performing and many were cancelled as quickly as they were made.
Today, Harris-Perry unloaded on her former employer in a Twitter rant for the ages.
She attacked the network for its working conditions, lack of diversity and creative inflexibility. Read her tweets below:
As for me… I am just waiting to be free… tick tock…tick tock… is it 5 o'clock yet?
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) March 1, 2016
5pm. Pushing back from pointless "negotiations" like … pic.twitter.com/bqa6l3uzXD
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) March 1, 2016
A few apologies: @MartinBashir @Toure @finneyk I am sorry for and ashamed of my earlier silence. I gave into to culture of fear at #msnbc
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) March 1, 2016
Note to @YvetteMiley & Phil if I cc u on email Tue & it's leaked to press on Friday maybe I'm not the unpredictable one. #GetYourLeaksPhil
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) March 1, 2016
One of the unintended consequences of salary inequity– harder to get us to take one of those non-disclosure payoffs huh? #freedomovermoney
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) March 1, 2016
To be sure, hosting @MHPshow was one of the greatest joys of my professional life-a weekly privilege for 4 years. #NerdlandForever
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) March 1, 2016
Failures on @MHPshow were mine & nearly everything good belonged to brilliant team of producers, researchers, interns. #NerdlandForever
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) March 1, 2016
#Nerdland was a platform for diverse, brilliant voices to weigh in on politics — the only place on #MSNBC & cable pic.twitter.com/Oj1SnV30aP
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) March 1, 2016
#MSNBC says they would put their diversity "up against everyone else in the news business.” It’s a low bar. pic.twitter.com/dwlaNbsLU9
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) March 1, 2016
So #MSNBC y'all keep making cable great again. I'll be staying challenging & unpredictable. #NerdlandForever pic.twitter.com/BCDOBLfITm
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) March 1, 2016
