Joe Scarborough criticizes MSNBC for taking 'Morning Joe' off-air Monday: 'Very disappointed'

Joe Scarborough expressed disappointment with MSNBC for taking "Morning Joe" off-air on Monday, a significant news day following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump and the commencement of the 2024 Republican National Convention.

Addressing audiences on Tuesday, Scarborough criticized the network for taking his show off-air during a pivotal political moment.

"We were told, in no uncertain terms, on Sunday evening, that there was going to be one news feed across all NBC News channels yesterday," said Scarborough.

He echoed the network's statement that MSNBC was planning to remain in rolling breaking news mode on Monday after the assassination attempt on Saturday.

"That did not happen. We don’t know why that didn’t happen. Our team was not given a good answer as to why that didn’t happen, but it didn’t happen. We were also told it was going to happen throughout the day," he continued.

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Rolling breaking news coverage

MSNBC, on Monday, had replaced its popular morning show hosted by Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist, with news coverage in a move that left audiences and political observers surprised.

"Tune in to MSNBC tomorrow morning for continued coverage of the attempted assassination of former President Trump," the show's official handle had said on X the night before on Sunday. "Regularly scheduled 'Morning Joe' will return on Tuesday."

A network spokesperson told USA TODAY Monday that the show was taken off-air because the channel stayed in rolling breaking news coverage since the shooting broke out Saturday evening and a simulcast would be carried on NBC News, NBC News NOW and MSNBC.

The spokesperson's statement appeared to deny a CNN report, which cited an anonymous source, that the show was pulled for concerns about a guest making an inappropriate comment in wake of the assassination attempt on Trump.

Despite the network's stated plans to host one simulcast across multiple channels, Fox News and Deadline reported that MSNBC anchor José Díaz-Balart came on to lead coverage during Morning Joe‘s 9 a.m. ET hour.

However, a new episode of NBC's "Today" aired Monday morning and MSNBC proceeded with its regular schedule after "Morning Joe's" time slot.

Surprised and disappointed

Scarborough said he and his team were "very surprised" and "very disappointed" with the decision and if they had known "that there wasn’t going to be the one news feed from NBC News across all NBC News channels," they would have carried on with their show Monday morning.

Co-hosts Geist and Brzezinski echoed Scarborough's comments, with Geist saying the trio wanted to "be here for our audience."

"We know you trust us, and we have ultimate respect for you guys,” Geist said. “So, we are here today. I wish we’d been here yesterday.”

Brzezinski added that for 17 years, the show has been "the place where you can go to have the hard conversations in a civil way."

"It seemed like now more than ever is a day, a time that we would like to be on. I think our viewers agree with that," she said.

A network spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X @saman_shafiq7.