Rachel Maddow thought she was the queen of left-wing cable news.
But her world came crashing down in the most humiliating way possible.
And Rachel Maddow tried one desperate spin move that left everyone laughing.
NBC cuts MSNBC loose like a bad habit
The writing was on the wall for months, but now it’s official – NBC Universal wants nothing to do with MSNBC anymore.
The brutal ratings collapse following Trump’s election victory told the whole story.
MSNBC lost a staggering 54% of its primetime audience in the days after Trump’s historic win, dropping from 1.8 million viewers in October to just 808,000 after Election Day.¹
Overall viewership plummeted 31% as devastated liberal viewers couldn’t bear to watch their network explain away Kamala Harris’s crushing defeat.
Meanwhile, Fox News saw its ratings surge 61% during the same period – a complete reversal of fortune that NBC Universal couldn’t ignore.
NBC saw the declining cable landscape and did what any smart company would do – they cut their losses.
The network spun MSNBC and other cable channels off into a separate company called Versant, effectively cutting ties with the declining assets.
But the corporate divorce got even more brutal.
NBC didn’t just separate from MSNBC financially – they stripped the network of the right to use the NBC name and the famous peacock logo.
Versant CEO Mark Lazarus broke the news to staff that NBC was keeping its branding to itself.
The humiliating rebrand nobody wanted
Lazarus initially promised staff that despite the corporate divorce, MSNBC would keep its name.
“I know there was some discussion with the MSNBC name, so you can take that off of your worry list,” Lazarus told employees during a January meeting.²
That turned out to be completely false.
NBC wanted the cable network so far away from their brand that they forced a complete name change.
MSNBC is now called “MS NOW” – which stands for “My Source for News, Opinion and the World” – a rebrand that immediately sparked ridicule online.
Social media users had a field day mocking the acronym because it sounds identical to “multiple sclerosis.”
The optics couldn’t be worse – a cable news network reduced to a name that sounds like a degenerative disease.
This wasn’t some strategic rebranding decision – this was corporate housecleaning.
Maddow’s pathetic damage control fails spectacularly
Here’s where it gets really entertaining.
Rachel Maddow, the supposed star of this rebranded network, decided she needed to go into full damage control mode.
Her strategy? Try to convince people that getting dumped by NBC was actually a good thing.
During an appearance on the Pivot podcast, Maddow tried to frame getting dumped by NBC as some kind of blessing in disguise.
“In this case, we can apply our own instincts, our own queries, our own priorities, to getting stuff that we need from reporters and correspondents . . . and so it’s gonna be better,” Maddow claimed.³
Better? Really?
Getting kicked out of the NBC family because your ratings tanked after lying to viewers for years is somehow an improvement?
Maddow also tried to reframe the embarrassing name change as solving confusion between the networks.
“If there was ever a time for us to change our name, this is it – because we’re not just separating from NBC News in corporate terms, we’re competing with them now. So I think the distinction is going to be good for us,” she argued.
The desperation was palpable.
Even Maddow knows the new name is a joke
The funniest part? Maddow herself acknowledged that “MS NOW” sounds ridiculous.
She attempted to make light of the awkward situation by cracking jokes about not being able to pronounce the new names.
“While I will admit to having no idea how to pronounce ‘MS NOW’ (and I’m still not all that sure about pronouncing ‘VERSANT,’ either), we’re at least dropping our syllable count from five to three! An efficiency gain!” Maddow said.⁴
When you’re reduced to joking about syllable counts, you’ve officially hit rock bottom.
No amount of Maddow’s trademark smirking and condescending tone can change the fundamental reality here.
NBC Universal looked at their cable properties, identified what was dragging down their more successful assets, and cut it loose.
The real story NBC doesn’t want told
Here’s what Maddow’s damage control can’t obscure – NBC Universal eliminated MSNBC from its main portfolio because they didn’t want a failing cable channel dragging down their profitable divisions.
NBC News, NBC Sports, NBC entertainment programming, and the Peacock streaming service are all more valuable assets than the cable channels they discarded.
The last thing NBC wants is an aging cable network connected to properties that generate real revenue in today’s media landscape.
This wasn’t some strategic move to give MSNBC more freedom – this was corporate housekeeping.
NBC examined their assets, identified what was weighing down their successful properties, and eliminated it.
When your network’s top host is making the rounds on podcasts trying to convince everyone that getting dumped is actually great news, you know things have gone sideways.
Look what happens when you lie to your audience for years
And you know what? This whole thing proves exactly what happens when you spend years lying to your viewers.
MSNBC told their audience that Trump was finished, that democracy was ending, that Kamala Harris would cruise to victory.
When none of that happened, viewers felt betrayed and tuned out.
More than a month after the election, MSNBC’s audience still hasn’t returned – primetime viewership remains down 55% compared to pre-election levels.⁵
Rachel Maddow’s show has been particularly devastated, losing 41% of her total audience and 50% in the crucial 25-54 demographic since Election Day.
Think about it – you build your entire brand around being the smartest person in the room, the one who sees through all the lies.
Then you get the biggest story of the year completely wrong, and your audience realizes you were the one lying to them all along.
So here’s what really happened to left-wing media
But this goes way deeper than just changing viewing habits.
What we’re watching here is a complete credibility meltdown.
CNN and MSNBC spent four years pushing the Russian collusion hoax, insisting Trump could never win again, calling his supporters fascists.
Voters heard all that noise, walked into voting booths anyway, and handed Trump the biggest win for a Republican in decades.
Now these same talking heads have to face their shrinking audiences and explain why they got everything wrong.
And guess what? They can’t do it.
Companies that built their money around cable are scrambling as audiences move to podcasts and social platforms.
But Maddow’s real problem isn’t technology – she torched her credibility pushing theories that blew up in her face.
She can rebrand all she wants, dream up whatever acronym sounds good, but trust doesn’t come back once it’s gone.
MS NOW – the best name they could cook up for a network nobody wanted around anymore.
Maddow got ditched by her own corporate bosses, and no amount of podcast damage control can fix that embarrassment.
When your own company won’t even let you keep their logo, maybe it’s time to face reality instead of spinning fairy tales about fresh starts.
¹ Fox News, “No Trump bump: MSNBC hemorrhaging viewers since Election Day,” Fox News, November 12, 2024.
² NBC News, “MSNBC to change name to MS NOW amid spinoff from NBCUniversal,” NBC News, August 18, 2025.
³ Talk Radio 105.9, “Rachel Maddow Breaks Silence On MSNBC Rebrand,” KNRS, August 19, 2025.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ TheWrap, “MSNBC Viewers Still Haven’t Returned Post-Election,” December 18, 2024.
