MSNBC talk show screamer Ed Schultz had a meltdown in the network’s 30 Rock newsroom, shouting at staff, “I’m going to torch this [bleep]ing place.”
The hot-tempered anchor of “The Ed Show” lost it during a phone call in the packed studio and slammed down the phone before exploding.
As astonished MSNBC staff members fell silent, Schultz glared around the room and yelled, “[Bleep]ers!”
A witness told us, “Ed was furious the network was running election-night promos and he wasn’t in them. He’d been arguing on the phone with marketing, then he slammed down the phone and exploded. It was like Mel Gibson had entered the newsroom.”
Fuming Schultz was immediately dragged in for a meeting with NBC News President Steve Capus and MSNBC President Phil Griffin following his Aug. 12 meltdown.
Our source added, “Schultz was told: ‘If you do that again, you are fired.’ He broke down crying.”
Sources say the hothead was pushed over the edge by MSNBC’s catering to bullying fellow anchor Keith Olbermann and its focus on golden girl Rachel Maddow.
A second MSNBC source said, “Ed never gets any attention and love, and he finally snapped.”
Schultz, who’s fronted his 6 p.m. show on MSNBC for 16 months, also doesn’t hold back on his radio show. He once told White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, “You’re full of [bleep].” And after Fox News Channel’s Glenn Beck revealed a condition that may make him go blind, Schultz said, “It’s a travesty he’s not going to see the country he’s trying to destroy.”
A spokeswoman for Schultz and the network declined to comment on the incident but said, “The only thing that’s on fire are Ed’s ratings, and the only people crying are at CNN.”