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Black leaders across the nation have banded together in protest of the sudden cancellation of MSNBC's The Cross Connection With Tiffany Cross in a letter sent to the network's president.
The letter of protest comes after MSNBC removed the Saturday morning news program from its slate after host Tiffany Cross became the center of a smear campaign launched by Fox News' Tucker Carlson.
According to the HuffPost, a letter in protest of the show's cancellation and demanding a meeting to “discuss a path forward that is restorative to the reputation and dignity of” Cross was sent to MSNBC President Rashida Jones from over 40 Black leaders, including Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP; Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood; and Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change.
Leaders of civil rights groups, non-profit organizations, and the journalism industry wrote that they were "deeply disappointed" that MSNBC abruptly axed Cross' show days before the midterms.
“Given the undeniable rise of fascism and persistent threats to democracy we face in the current moment, NBC should be an unrelenting force for truth and a safe harbor for voices like Ms. Cross as well as those with whom she shared her broad and popular platform,” the letter reads in part.
“While other networks give voice to election deniers, Ms. Cross featured voting rights champions. Where other shows spread disinformation, The Cross Connection spotlighted justice,” it continues.“Where other outlets catered to the country’s worst instincts, Ms. Cross elevated the discourse and taught audiences how to protect democracy.”
The letter also condemned Carlson’s weeks-long “targeted, racist and misogynistic strike” against Cross and her show, stating that MSNBC allowed Fox News to bully them into canceling the program. Carlson aired clips of The Cross Connection on his show and claimed that Cross was trying to start a race war, comparing her program to the media outlet that sparked the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
After her show was canceled, Cross wrote in a statement, “Fresh off the heels of a ‘racial reckoning,’ as so many have called it, we see that with progress, there is always backlash. Now is not the time to retreat to politics or business as usual. It is my hope that the last two years at MSNBC have been disruptive and transformative, changing how politics are discussed and making policy more digestible.”
Black leaders wrote in their letter to the network that the show's cancellation was even more devastating to Black viewers, considering there are only a few Black female hosts in cable news.
“There is a persistent theme in the denigrating of Black women’s value and the silencing of Black women’s voices when they speak uncomfortable but necessary truths about the state of our society,” the authors of the letter wrote. “This season is too grave a moment in American history to silence the voices of Black Women who, time and again, save America from itself.”
“Tiffany Cross has long been one of those Black women — and her voice is needed now more than ever,” the letter reads.
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