Rachel Maddow is the undisputed ratings queen at MSNBC, but she says she had nothing to do with the channel’s decision to fire Alec Baldwin.
Maddow is openly lesbian and was said to be particularly offended by Baldwin’s use of homophobic slurs in an angry tirade at a photographer stalking his wife.
A colleague who has been at MSNBC for many years is said to have told Baldwin, “You ticked off the wrong person. You don’t know how things work here.”
On the Wendy Williams TV show on Wednesday, Maddow said she had never met Baldwin, but added, “I’m offended anytime somebody uses the insinuation that someone is gay as an insult.”
Maddow also is credited with greasing the skids for Keith Olbermann’s exit from the channel nearly three years ago, even though it was Olbermann who brought her to MSNBC and nurtured her career as his protégé.
Through a publicist, Maddow told me, “I have never had any role in any management decision at MSNBC. Any source who says otherwise is wrong.”
An MSNBC spokeswoman said, “Writing her show every night is more than enough work. She gladly leaves talent management to her bosses.”