Mehdi Hasan is departing from MSNBC. During Sunday’s episode of the cable news show, the cable news host announced during the broadcast that he would be leaving the network to pursue other career opportunities.
“With this show going away, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to look for a new challenge,” Hasan said, per Variety. “Tonight is not just my final episode of The Mehdi Hasan Show. It’s my last day with MSNBC. Yes, I’ve decided to leave. To be clear, I am so, so proud of what we’ve achieved on this show on this network, and I can’t thank you enough for tuning in and for your support, and for your feedback. But as they say, new year, new plans.”
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In addition, he said that his fans could follow him on Instagram, Threads, and X if they wanted to find out what’s next for him. It was announced in November that MSNBC was scrapping Hasan’s Sunday show as part of a wider shake-up of MSNBC’s weekend programming schedule.
According to the channel at the time, Hasan was going to remain with the channel as a political analyst and fill-in anchor, according to Variety. On Sunday, he had his last scheduled program before the new line-up takes effect next weekend.
Another MSNBC weekend anchor, Yasmin Vossoughian, also lost her hours and was moved into the role of a fill-in anchor as well as national reporter. There was criticism against MSNBC’s cancellation of Hasan’s show, including from The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which launched a petition asking the network to reconsider its decision, and from members of Congress Ro Khanna and Ilhan Omar.
“Mehdi is one of the most brilliant and most prominent Muslim journalists in the U.S.” Omar wrote. “It is deeply troubling that MSNBC is cancelling his show amid a rampant rise of anti-Muslim bigotry and suppression of Muslim voices. Anyone who cares about free expression should be concerned.”
In addition to Hasan, MSNBC has two other Muslim anchors: Ali Velshi and Ayman Mohyeldin. Hasan has been an outspoken critic of the Israeli government’s military actions in Gaza and in favor of advocating Palestinian rights.
Next week, Mohyeldin will expand his hours to take over Hassan’s old timeslot. “It is bad optics for MSNBC to cancel Mehdi Hasan’s show right at a time when he is vocal for human rights in Gaza with the war ongoing,” Khanna said after the announcement.
