MS NOW War Erupts: Joe Scarborough and Wife Mika Brzezinski Battling Rival Rachel Maddow Over Popularity as Network Undergoes Massive Rebrand
MS Now evening host Rachel Maddow is said to be at war with her 'Morning Joe' counterparts.
Dec. 5 2025, Published 6:14 p.m. ET
There's a war brewing at the newly renamed MS Now network, RadarOnline.com can reveal, with tensions growing between morning hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski and evening star Rachel Maddow.
And it's all reportedly over their equally growing egos.
Battle of the Network Stars
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski think they should be recognized for their success...
After the network formerly known as MSNBC rebranded as MS Now, executives made Maddow the focal point of programming.
That apparently didn't sit well with married couple Scarborough and Brzezinski, who co-host Morning Joe and consider themselves the real network stars.
"Let's be honest, the tension is real," said Hollywood insider Rob Shuter, who writes on Substack. "Joe and Mika run their show like a cozy morning salon, but everyone knows Rachel is the boss."
And she has the ratings and bankroll to back it up. Morning Joe airs five days a week, drawing an average of 625,000 viewers. Its married hosts are rumored to be paid $8 to 10million a year.
Master of the House
Maddow is the top draw on the liberal news network.
Meanwhile, Maddow airs just once a week – on Monday night in prime time. Yet she enjoys a much larger audience of nearly 2million viewers, and commands a whopping $25million a year salary.
Shuter said Maddow gloats about being the network's top draw, and doesn't plan on sharing her wealth anytime soon.
"Her team guards that primetime territory the way Fort Knox guards gold, and that alone creates sparks," Shuter said. "You can feel the vibes shift the second Morning Joe grabs a big story.
"They're all under the same roof, but trust me - Rachel's universe has gravity, and everyone else orbits around it."
Missing in Action
She is also the highest paid staffer
While all may seem copacetic on-air, network bigwigs are getting worried, especially after Scarborough and Brzezinski have been M.I.A. from their morning talk show – and insiders now claim the couple's increasingly high number of absences has sparked a "workplace meltdown" as the network scrambles to cover for them.
Prior to the network's rebrand to MS NOW, Scarborough and Brzezinski racked up numerous absences from Morning Joe.
Between May 27 and November 15, the married duo reportedly appeared together in just 70 of 124 episodes.
Scarborough couldn't be found for 29 episodes, and Brzezinski was absent from 41, which worked out to about one missed show every three days.
In July alone, Brzezinski missed two straight weeks of episodes.
Empty Chairs at Empty Tables
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Scarborough and Brzezinski have been missing in action.
Shuter reports the duo's inconsistent schedules have "frustrated" staffers, many of whom have been working at the show for years, and have led to "chaos" behind the scenes.
"There’s no leadership," a senior producer claimed to Shuter. "Every day is a scramble. Who’s hosting? What’s the tone? Who’s running the ship? No one knows."
"They have special deals, endless vacation time – but this summer went too far," a separate source claimed. "We're headed into an election year, and we're stuck with empty chairs."
After months of irregular appearances on their own show, Brzezinski and Scarborough swiftly changed their tune and began showing up to their home studio regularly, starting on November 12, mere days before parent company Comcast offloaded the network onto a new spin-off company, Versant.
Since then, they've clocked their longest consecutive streak of appearances since Memorial Day at three weeks and counting.
