NBC News has backtracked on its decision to hire former Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel as a political contributor following severe backlash amongst staffers.

“There is no doubt that the last several days have been difficult for the News Group. After listening to the legitimate concerns of many of you, I have decided that Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News contributor,” NBCUniversal Group Chairman Cesar Conde said in an email to staff members, the outlet wrote.

“I want to personally apologize to our team members who felt we let them down. While this was a collective recommendation by some members of our leadership team, I approved it and take full responsibility for it,” Conde wrote.

WATCH:

Per NBC News:

The decision to cut ties with McDaniel comes less than a week after NBC News announced her hiring, prompting an extraordinary public protest from the former host of its flagship Sunday morning political show, as well as from many of the most popular hosts of the network’s cable channel.

Rachel Maddow opened her show on MSNBC on Monday night by urging NBC News to change its mind about hiring McDaniel.

“I find the decision to put her on the payroll inexplicable, and I hope they will reconsider that decision,” Maddow said.

MSNBC and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal News Group.

“NBC just hired & immediately fired Ronna McDaniel, because the team refused to let even one Republican join them – that’s how biased they are!” Elon Musk commented.

“Wow! Ronna McDaniel got fired by Fake News NBC. She only lasted two days, and this after McDaniel went out of her way to say what they wanted to hear. It leaves her in a very strange place, it’s called NEVER NEVERLAND, and it’s not a place you want to be. These Radical Left Lunatics are CRAZY, and the top people at NBC ARE WEAK. They were BROKEN and EMBARRASSED by LOW RATINGS, HIGHLY OVERPAID, ‘TALENT.’ BRING BACK FREE AND FAIR PRESS – MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN 2024!” Donald Trump commented on Truth Social.

ABC News reports:

McDaniel stepped down at the RNC last month and was replaced by two new leaders, including former President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law.

She defended her time with the party and her views on the 2020 election, Jan. 6 and more in an interview on Sunday on “Meet the Press.”

In that appearance, McDaniel indicated that she was sharing more of her views because she was no longer at the helm of the party.

“When you’re the RNC chair, you kind of take one for the whole team,” said McDaniel, who was hand-picked by Trump in late 2016 to steer the party until he pushed for new leadership.

“Now,” McDaniel said on NBC, “I get to be a little bit more myself.”

Among other topics, McDaniel was pressed on “Meet the Press” about her past comments questioning, without evidence, whether President Joe Biden had genuinely won the 2020 election — and she split from Trump over his support for some of the people convicted for participating in the events of Jan. 6.

She also defended a Nov. 17, 2020, phone call in which she and Trump were reportedly recorded urging GOP canvassers in Michigan not to sign a certification of the 2020 election results showing that Biden had won.

 

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