{"id":489,"date":"2025-05-01T06:04:05","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T06:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topfeednews.it.com\/?p=489"},"modified":"2025-05-01T06:04:05","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T06:04:05","slug":"msnbc-is-in-the-midst-of-a-brewing-storm-with-rachel-maddows-lucrative-salary-at-the-heart-of-growing-tensions-insiders-are-suggesting-that-jealousy-is-starting-to-take-hold-among-the-netwo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topfeednews.it.com\/?p=489","title":{"rendered":"MSNBC is in the midst of a brewing storm, with Rachel Maddow\u2019s lucrative salary at the heart of growing tensions. Insiders are suggesting that jealousy is starting to take hold among the network\u2019s staff,"},"content":{"rendered":"

MSNBC has been caught in the throws of controversy as rumors swirl about jealousy at the network over star\u00a0Rachel Maddow\u2019s bumper pay<\/span>\u00a0while\u00a0Lawrence O\u2019Donnell took a bizarre absence<\/span>\u00a0from his program.<\/p>\n

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Rachel Maddow has been a fixture at MSNBC since her program debuted in 2008. She is reportedly one of the highest-paid news anchors in the country, taking home\u00a0an estimated $25 million a year<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Her whopping salary has seemed to set an unattainable expectation for the other anchors at the network, with new reports now suggesting that O\u2019Donnell is in pay negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u2018Lawrence has been trying to renegotiate his contract, and what he wants is what internally everyone\u2019s calling \u2018The Rachel Maddow Deal,\u201d an anonymous insider told\u00a0The US Sun.<\/p>\n

\u2018That\u2019s working about one day a week and recording a podcast, which will never happen again.\u2019<\/p>\n

The insider went on to say that Maddow\u2019s salary was determined before it was announced that MSNBC would be spun off by its parent network, NBC.<\/p>\n

They referred to the contract as \u2018crazy\u2019 and \u2018silly,\u2019 noting that everyone at the network wants her \u2018golden parachute.\u2019<\/p>\n

Maddow\u2019s show had the highest ratings at MSNBC in February, according to\u00a0AdWeek, and she previously\u00a0pledged to increase her on-air appearances<\/span>\u00a0from once a week to every weekday during\u00a0Donald Trump<\/span>\u2018s first 100 days in office.<\/p>\n

\"Rachel
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Rachel Maddow is a fixture on MSNBC and reportedly makes a massive salary that an insider claimed was making others on the network jealous<\/p>\n

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\"Lawrence
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Lawrence O\u2019Donnell announced on March 13 that he would be taking a week off due to exhaustion but was absent from his show for two weeks<\/p>\n

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Maddow and O\u2019Donnell host separate shows on MSNBS with Maddow fronting The Rachel Maddow Show and O\u2019Donnell hosting The Last Word<\/p>\n

The insider claimed that O\u2019Donnell was concerned that once Maddow returns to a once-a-week slot, his ratings will struggle since her program airs before him.<\/p>\n

\u2018Lawrence\u2019s thinking is that it\u2019s not fair that his numbers will take a hit when Rachel leaves again. He believes execs will blame him, and that that will ultimately be bad for his upcoming contract.\u2019<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donnell never made a 100-day pledge like his colleague and admitted on air in mid-March that he was \u2018exhausted\u2019 and needed a break.<\/p>\n

He told Maddow during the show,\u00a0\u2018This is day 52. I thought it was day 92. It turns out it\u2019s day 52, Rachel\u2026 and so I\u2019m going to take next week off.\u2019<\/p>\n

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O\u2019Donnell continued that he didn\u2019t want to \u2018drift away\u2019 without explanation and promised that after a week off he\u2019d be back for the full 100 days.<\/p>\n

Maddow pouted and said she was \u2018very sad\u2019 to continue without him, but added that she understood why he needed a break.<\/p>\n

\u2018You have to take care of yourself. You got to pace yourself. You got to be in this for the long haul, so I can\u2019t hold it against you,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n

A clip of O\u2019Donnell announcing his break went viral on social media, and the veteran news anchor didn\u2019t generate much sympathy for his exhaustion.<\/p>\n

\"Maddow
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Maddow typically hosted her show on Monday nights but increased her appearances for the first 100 days of Donald Trump\u2019s presidency<\/p>\n

\"Insiders
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Insiders claimed that O\u2019Donnell was in talks with MSNBC about his contract as he has taken some time off from his show<\/p>\n

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O\u2019Donnell told Maddow on his show that he would be taking a break for a week before announcing that he ended up having to take two weeks off due to an illness<\/p>\n

\u2018This guy is the face of privilege,\u2019 one critic said. \u2018He can take a week off because politics make him sad face.\u2019<\/p>\n

Others didn\u2019t buy his excuse, writing, \u2018He\u2019s gone. Gonna have an announcement later, something like, \u2018I\u2019m happier being out of it,\u2019 or, \u2018have to work on myself\/health,\u2019 or \u2018spend more time with family\u201d\u2019.<\/p>\n

The absence\u2019s timing coincided with rumors of contract negotiations, with the insider also claiming that MSNBC executives are planning on keeping O\u2019Donnell as a full-time anchor and aren\u2019t considering a once-a-week slot for him.<\/p>\n

\u2018By the time they spin off, they want to be a self-contained, profitable company and if Lawrence doesn\u2019t want to be part of that, or just wants to do one show a week \u2013 it\u2019s going to be a problem for him,\u2019 they added.<\/p>\n

A representative of MSNBC disputed this reporting to DailyMail.com.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donnell announced his week off from his program, The Last Word on March 13, however, he has yet to return to his hosting duties.<\/p>\n

He then clarified in a post on X on Thursday that he was off due to an illness, writing, \u2018Thanks to @msnbc team @Capehartj @AliVelshi @jrpsaki\u00a0for filling in for me. My week off turned into 2 weeks after I picked up an infection. Expect to be back next week.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MSNBC has been caught in the throws of controversy as rumors swirl about jealousy at the network over star\u00a0Rachel Maddow\u2019s bumper pay\u00a0while\u00a0Lawrence O\u2019Donnell took a bizarre absence\u00a0from his program. Rachel … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/topfeednews.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/topfeednews.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/topfeednews.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topfeednews.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topfeednews.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=489"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/topfeednews.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":491,"href":"https:\/\/topfeednews.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489\/revisions\/491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topfeednews.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/topfeednews.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topfeednews.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topfeednews.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}