OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
When Twitter became, in the opinion of some, a cesspool of progressiveness, it was Elon Musk who stepped in to purchase the company and set it on a new path.
And now, with word that MSNBC is for sale, it may again be the Tesla and Space X CEO who steps in to change the culture.
A simple five words from the billionaire set the Internet ablaze after he spoke to Donald Trump Jr. about the cable company.
It started when Wall Street Mav posted on X, formerly Twitter, that MSNBC was likely going to be for sale.
“Comcast is putting MSNBC up for sale. CNN just announced massive layoffs coming. Maybe the new owners will figure out that lying non-stop to your audience is a lousy business model,” they said.
The president-elect’s son quoted the post with his own in which he said “Hey @elonmusk I have the funniest idea ever!!!”
And that is when the billionaire responded and started a firestorm of speculation on his own X app.
“How much does it cost?” he asked.
Hey @elonmusk I have the funniest idea ever!!! https://t.co/OEwz6S5ncs
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) November 22, 2024
That triggered a ton of responses from many prominent voices, including podcaster Joe Rogan, with many of them vying for Rachel Maddow’s job as a host.
One response came from Trump Jr. himself who said “I mean it can’t be much. Look at the ratings.”
The most entertaining outcome… pic.twitter.com/IWM0oErtWA
— Julia 🇺🇸 (@Jules31415) November 23, 2024
“If you buy MSNBC I would like Rachael Maddow’s job. I will wear the same outfit and glasses, and I will tell the same lies,” Rogan said.
“If you guys need a replacement for Rachel Maddow, I know a guy,” conservative Michael Knowles said.
“I hear it’s about $ 8 billion for the lot of them… but if you fire Maddow, you’d instantly save $30 million a year…” Mario Nawfal said.
“Alex Jones hosting would be the most entertaining outcome,” podcaster Tim Pool said.
“You should do this just to fire all their hosts and then hire a team of clowns to read the news 24/7. It will essentially be the same thing but much cheaper! After a week of fun then turn it over to host shows from X/with X user integration,” Robby Starbuck said.
“It can’t be much—nearly worthless. They’ve run it into the ground. Buy it cheap and build it into a Media Behemoth,” Kari Lake said.
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” hosts awkwardly joked on Wednesday morning that they were forced to address several reports that the network could be sold.
A recent Wall Street Journal reported that Comcast was planning to spin off its suite of NBC Universal-owned cable channels, including the very network that employs them—MSNBC.
“Comcast is expected to announce Wednesday that it is moving forward with a plan to spin off its NBCUniversal cable TV networks, according to people familiar with the situation, acknowledging that it will be better off without a business that was once its crown jewel. The company, which last month said it was studying the idea, will separate off entertainment and news channels including MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Oxygen, E!, Syfy and Golf Channel. Those assets generated about $7 billion in revenue in the 12 months ended Sept. 30,” WSJ’s Amol Sharma reported.
After Mika Brzezinski reported the news straight, Joe Scarborough attempted to joke about the situation by mentioning his wife (Mika Brzezinksi, his co-host on the show) having a penthouse.
“I will say really quickly on this, you know, Drudge at the top said, like ‘News melts down!’ all this other stuff,” Scarborough said, referring to the news aggregate website the Drudge Report.
“I mean, I could be completely wrong: we could all be fired a year from now. When this happens, you never know what’s going to happen,” Scarborough said.
Brzezinski added, “Or tomorrow,” with what seemed to be a slightly forced laugh when she was clearly not thrilled with the idea of the show being in danger.