Anti-Trump news anchor Rachel Maddow defended MSNBC’s rebrand to MS NOW — arguing that the lefty cable channel would no longer have to vie for owner NBCUniversal’s “leftovers” and adding that “we’re competing with them now.”
The new name and logo, which were brutally mocked online, are part of Comcast’s $7 billion spinoff of cable assets into a separate publicly traded company known as Versant.
During a recent podcast episode of “Pivot,” hosted by tech journalist Kara Swisher, Maddow said MSNBC will no longer have to make do with “leftovers” from NBC News programming and in-field reporting.
“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 said.
Maddow’s defense of the rebrand came in stark contrast to ruthless jokes across the internet that quipped the new name — short for My Source News Opinion World — actually stands for “Majorly Skewed News Overly Woke” or “Most Surely No One Watching.”
Others started calling the channel “BS NOW” or gibed that “MS,” now a space away from the rest of the channel name, looks like it stands for “multiple sclerosis.”
“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,” Maddow said after the new logo was revealed on Monday.
“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!”
“Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough also tried to salvage the rebrand announcement, praising the “very sporty” new logo — a plain blue background with a red-and-white striped flag.
“This shows we’re independent,” Scarborough said during his show on Monday.
“When you have somebody come into your company … and they go, ‘We want you to be entrepreneurial. We want you to come up with new ideas. We want you to push the boundaries.’ I’m excited about that,” he added.
MSNBC anchors and reporters including Eugene Daniels, Ali Vitali and Jonathan Capehart posted the new logo on their social media accounts.
Andrew Ross Sorkin, a New York Times reporter, co-host of CNBC’s “Squawk Box” and regular guest on “Morning Joe,” said he loves the idea of an MSNBC spinoff because it “does have the sort of independence and actually get away in some ways even from the idea of legacy media.”
He said he’s “always thought about this network and CNBC and USA and actually all of those assets as insurgent networks” — though he mourned the loss of the iconic NBC peacock from MSNBC’s logo.
“As we all know, the peacock is synonymous with NBCUniversal, and it is a symbol they have decided to keep within the NBCU family,” Mark Lazarus, who will lead Versant, said in a memo to staffers Monday morning.
That’s a sharp reversal from earlier this year, when Lazarus assured panicked staffers that the MSNBC name was here to stay.
“I know there was some discussion with the MSNBC name, so you can take that off of your worry list on things,” he claimed during a meeting in January.
A company insider told The Post: “It doesn’t set a great precedent for management to change the name after promising staffers it wouldn’t.”
“It’s not a way to boost trust in the new company and its leadership.”
Versant will include other cable assets like Golf Channel, GolfNow, SportsEngine and CNBC, which will keep NBC in its name but lose the peacock.
The spinoff is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
