Ex-MSNBC Host Tiffany Cross Slams Network Executives: 'I Had My Intelligence Questioned'
Tiffany Cross opened up about her difficult experience working for MSNBC.
Ex-MSNBC host Tiffany Cross slammed her former network and claimed she faced "constant criticism" from executives, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Cross, who was the host of The Cross Connection, left the network in November 2022. In her scathing review of her time with MSNBC, the former host said network executives questioned her intelligence and pushed her to be a part of the anti-Donald Trump "echo chamber."
Cross claimed she 'fought' with network executives on a routine basis over her program's topics.
Cross revealed her MSNBC experience on Native Lad Pod hosted by former CNN contributor Angela Ray and former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum.
Cross explained that she began appearing as a guest on Joy Reid's then-weekend program, which she said was "really part of the audition process" for landing her own show on the network. Then, she began appearing on other MSNBC programs, including Joe Scarborough's Morning Joe, who she later dubbed the network's "favorite white boy."
"I got off air, we were trending. Every single time I did ‘Morning Joe’ we were trending," Cross said. "Tiffany Cross was trending on ‘Morning Joe.'"
Cross claimed former MSNBC colleague Joe Scarborough was the network's 'favorite white boy.'
Cross continued down her timeline at the network. In 2020, she was selected by NBCUniversal News Group chairman Cesar Conde to host the weekend program. The former host said that while she was "obviously showing up for Black folks" with the program, she wanted the show's discourse open to all demographics.
"I want you all to know, every single week from the start of my show to the very last show I did, it was a battle," Cross told the Native Land hosts.
"It was a battle to cover things that I wanted to talk about. The network’s philosophy was Trump, Trump, Trump," Cross continued. "They wanted me to be part of the echo chamber."
Cross claimed the network wanted her to be apart of the anti-Trump 'echo chamber.'
Cross claimed she "fought" with network executives regularly over potential topics for her show.
"I wanted to cover things like inhumane treatment in prisons, that’s something that disproportionately impacts my community," Cross explained.
"Mental health among Black men, the erasure of Afro-Latinos in the Latino community, land battles of the indigenous, Native Americans trying to get their family artifacts back from museums right here in America. Black farmers, reaching Latino voters, things like that."
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Cross cut ties with MSNBC in November 2022.
"When I would fight these battles, I know ya’ll know exactly what I mean, I was spoken to in the most condescending ways. I mean, anything from being told the definition of news… I would have somebody sit across from me and explain to me how news works," Cross added. "I had my intelligence questioned."
Cross claimed the network only seemed to care about coverage of Trump.
"They wanted me to use the same recycled faces you see all the time, so I really found the constant criticism debilitating at times, but mostly confusing," Cross said, adding, "We were routinely the highest rated show of the entire weekend. So, I was scratching my head like ‘What ya’ll so mad about?'"
Cross said she was scrutinized in ways that her white male colleagues were not.
"There is a burden to speaking the truth. It comes with consequence and when you find yourself as the messenger, there is a power structure in place that is not welcoming to our voices," Cross concluded. "I was prepared for these battles because I had been fighting them my entire career."
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