'Morning Joe' hosts angry after show canceled Monday after Trump shooting

The co-hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” expressed disappointment and anger Tuesday, a day after the network opted to air a news reporting block instead of their morning show.

Joe Scarborough said he and his colleagues felt misled by network executives who told them Sunday that all of Monday’s regular programming would be overshadowed by coverage of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump and other key events.

Instead, Nicolle Wallace and Ari Melber hosted their usual daily shows at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Monday as usual, and a panel of hosts — including Wallace, Melber, Rachel Maddow and Joy Reid — took over in the evening to cover the first day of the Republican National Convention.

“We were very surprised,” Scarborough said on air. “We were very disappointed. And if we had known there was not going to be any flow of information, we would have obviously been here yesterday morning. (…) We all would have loved to have been here yesterday.”

The temporary hiatus of “Morning Joe,” a show that has reached new heights of political influence in recent weeks, has sparked outrage in political and media circles, particularly after CNN reported an allegation that MSNBC executives were concerned that a guest would make a rude remark about Saturday’s shooting at Trump’s rally.

The network issued a lengthy statement Monday “categorically” denying the claim. The official explanation for the “Morning Joe” hiatus is the company’s decision to dedicate those hours to a unified feed of breaking news coverage shared between NBC, MSNBC and the NBC News NOW streaming service, which the company said would best reflect “the gravity and complexity of this unfolding story.”

Scarborough’s comments Tuesday represent an extraordinary backlash against a network where he has worked for 21 years — comparable to criticism in March from NBC News chief political analyst Chuck Todd over the network’s hiring of former RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel as an on-air contributor, a nomination that was quickly rescinded.

Scarborough said he has discussed the matter with network executives but still wants clarification on what happened. He said his team “has not received a satisfactory answer” as to why the network’s plans changed.

But the host speculated that the network had changed its mind about cutting other programs after being criticized for ignoring “Morning Joe” amid such a deluge of political news. “Morning Joe” was originally supposed to be the cornerstone of the network’s coverage of the Republican convention.

MSNBC did not comment specifically on Scarborough, but noted that more than 40 hours of programming across the network had been preempted by a unified breaking news feed focused on the shooting at the Trump rally.

“We want to be there for our audience, and we know you trust us,” co-host Willie Geist said, adding that he was “dressed and ready to go” to appear on the show Monday morning.

Mika Brzezinski, Scarborough’s wife and co-host, also expressed disappointment that their show did not air Monday. She said “Morning Joe” is a place for civilized discussion of difficult topics.

“It seems like now, more than ever, is a day, a moment, where we would like to be present, and I think our viewers agree with that, so we continue,” Brzezinski said.

Scarborough then issued what appeared to be a challenge to the network.

“The next time we’re told that a news feed is going to replace us, we’re going to be sitting on our chairs,” he said. “The news feed is going to be us, or they can find someone else to host the show.”