Althouse: "I will not be used as a tool for their purposes. I am not a token, mammy or little brown bobble head."

February 26, 2016

"I will not be used as a tool for their purposes. I am not a token, mammy or little brown bobble head."

"I am not owned by Lack, Griffin or MSNBC. I love our show. I want it back.... I don’t know if there is a personal racial component... I don’t think anyone is doing something mean to me because I’m a black person.... I care only about substantive, meaningful and autonomous work... When we can do that, I will return — not a moment earlier.”

Said Melissa Harris-Perry, walking away from her MSNBC show. The second-highest rated comment at the link — which goes to the NYT — is "I'm sure someone will come along and explain this to me but I have no idea what the issue is here. Why is this news?"

43 comments:

Rob said...: According to the Times, Melissa Harris Perry feels worthless. She couldn't be more correct.; 2/26/16, 7:59 PM
gspencer said...: "My show is about race. And it will stay on the topic of race. I'm a professional, and I do professional work. About race. Because no one else in America talks about race. It's left to me to address this topic, the topic of race. Race is too important to be left to amateurs. If the suits at this network don't understand the subject of race, then I will address the issue of race. Race is too important to be ignored. And I will not be ignored, and neither will race. Race infects everything we do. Even when I wore those tampon ear pieces it was about race, because race is important. We can't let it go to seed. Race needs to be cultivated, to be grown, so people will understand the subject of race. And I know about race. I live, eat, breath race. I'm the expert on race on this network."

Every show goes like that.; 2/26/16, 8:02 PM
n.n said...: Ironically, she was best known for slapping spring-loaded clown heads with little feminine products.; 2/26/16, 8:08 PM
Original Mike said...: Oh, noes! Not America's foremost public intellectual! We are rudderless.; 2/26/16, 8:09 PM
rehajm said...: And I will not be ignored

It really depends on what the Clinton's definition of ignore is.; 2/26/16, 8:11 PM
The Bergall said...: Whew........; 2/26/16, 8:13 PM
JML said...: Who is this person?; 2/26/16, 8:14 PM
Jaq said...: Is it just me, or does it seem like a lot of MSNBC hosts are always on the edge of a breakdown?; 2/26/16, 8:20 PM
Original Mike said...: "but said she was frustrated that her time slot had faced pre-emptions for coverage of the presidential election. She said she had not appeared on the network at all “for weeks” and that she was mostly sidelined during recent election coverage in South Carolina and New Hampshire. (She was asked to return this weekend.)"

What?!? They pre-emptied her show for some silly presidential election? Have they no sense of perspective?; 2/26/16, 8:21 PM
Jaq said...: Rick Tyler, the former Ted Cruz campaign spokesman who was fired this week for circulating a fake story about Marco Rubio, announced Friday that he has been hired as a contributor for MSNBC.

LOL, sounds about right. BTW, one thing I will say about MSNBC, with the notable exception of Maddow, those guys are good judges of feminine beauty.; 2/26/16, 8:25 PM
Nancy Reyes said...: what is this hyseria about "race"? Please define your term.

Does she mean skin colour (so Pinoys or Hindus would be included in her definition) or does she mean if your ancestors came from Africa (so Egyptians and Boers would be included)? Does she mean "only Bantu ancestry Africans" (which would eliminate President Obama)? Or does she mean "only those of us who were descended from slaves (which would include a lot of white Southerners if you bother to read history).

Check the numbers: East Asians, South Asians, Hispanics, Middle Eastern folk, and even African born immigrants and their children are succeeding in the US. That is not true for many other places in the world.; 2/26/16, 8:27 PM
Michael K said...: MSNBC may be cleaning up their act. I watched them for the first time last week.

She will not be missed.

Maybe Al Sharpton will hire her.; 2/26/16, 8:30 PM
paminwi said...: MHP said the only people who knew/know what "hard work" means are slaves. Well, plain & simple: FU MHP! Then MHP uses the race card against MSNBC. The ultimate race baiting media organization, so I call that sweet irony.

Lots of people know what hard work is.

Me: 18 college credits/20-25 hrs per week at a pizza joint/Friday-Saturday-Sunday maid at Motel 6 until rooms were cleaned.
Did that for 2 years so I could pay for college. I know I worked hard.

i could go on and on with people I know who have made many sacrifices to further themselves to make a good life for their families.; 2/26/16, 8:31 PM
Drago said...: It is uncommon for bobble-heads to have that much self-awareness.; 2/26/16, 8:39 PM
harrogate said...: "Is it just me, or does it seem like a lot of MSNBC hosts are always on the edge of a breakdown?"

It's just you.; 2/26/16, 8:54 PM
buwaya said...: Michael is correct I think.
MSNBC is migrating on the ideological spectrum.
And perhaps not coincidentally it's ratings are improving.; 2/26/16, 9:01 PM
Original Mike said...: "MSNBC is migrating on the ideological spectrum."

That's too bad. They were useful as flypaper.; 2/26/16, 9:24 PM
Bill said...: It's Lent, so I'll just say I pray for her sanity and leave it at that.; 2/26/16, 9:42 PM
traditionalguy said...: As they say on the Apprentice, You're fired.; 2/26/16, 9:44 PM
Fabi said...: When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a tampon earring.; 2/26/16, 9:49 PM
David said...: "Ms. Harris-Perry, who is under contract, said that she was told that pre-emptions and election coverage were going to play out for the “foreseeable future.” Joy Reid will take over her time slot on Saturday, just as she has for the last couple of weeks."

Hard to see why she thinks she wasn't told what was happening. Her bosses decided that her show was less interesting and valuable than all the other shows they had available as the political season unfolded. In other words, on the least successful network, she had the show least wanted by her bosses. You could look at that as a compliment or a criticism, depending on your view of the bosses.

I also wonder why she thinks it was "her" show. She was the anchor, but they were not buying a show that she produced, packaged and held the rights to. She does hold the rights to herself so she can design a similar show and sell it to someone else. So her show has not been taken away. A particular organization no longer wants to air a show hosted by her, but she can still do a show if someone else will air it.

Or maybe they wanted to fire her but didn't want her to sue them (they are liberals and that would be awkward) so they are going to pay her to do nothing.; 2/26/16, 10:03 PM
JCC said...: I see that it's gone now, but her bio used to say something like "America's leading intellectual of color" or words equally sparking and modest, this after being denied tenure at Princeton for failing to produce anything of value. She's the source of a number of quotable (and risible) moments of glory for the media: mocking the Romney family photo because of an adopted child of color, "hard work" in the context of anything but slavery is racist, tampon earrings, etc. Her show was a daily exposition of racism and vaudeville.

And now, she's offended at being preempted by presidential debates, which I suppose could have been rebroadcast at a later hour so her many fans - all 27 - wouldn't have to miss her live show. The racists in management failied to recognize her brainpower or something.

She probably needs to sign on with Kanye West's agent, something like that. I'm guessing the IRS will not like this at all, bearing in mind those outstanding liens for unpaid income taxes. Funny how that always seem to work.; 2/26/16, 10:32 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: How could a black person in a white liberal enclave not realize they're a token? Unless they're possessed of an unusual talent it's a virtual certainty.; 2/26/16, 11:32 PM
William said...: Keith's Olbermann, that guy who wanted to take a dump in Sarah Palin's mouth, MHP, and, of course, Brian Williams hosting the discussion. There's a huge market for intelligent discussion about the important issues in American life. Al Jazeera should pick up these lost souls and produce a show so their views can be aired. It will be a blockbuster.; 2/26/16, 11:33 PM
Kevin said...: Half-white person plays the race card.; 2/26/16, 11:34 PM
Amadeus 48 said...: What??!! M. Harris-Perry is "our foremost public intellectual" according to Tennessee Coates, or whatever he calls himself. How can she be denied any forum she wants? We need to see that public intellect in action!; 2/26/16, 11:36 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: People who are sure they aren't tokens often feel the need to declare to others that they're not tokens, right?; 2/26/16, 11:44 PM
Anonymous said...: "Maybe Al Sharpton will hire her."

And take her with him when he leaves the country after Trump is elected.; 2/26/16, 11:46 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Maybe the problem was that she didn't understand the hard work the network expected?; 2/26/16, 11:49 PM
Jaq said...: Besides Keith Olberman, Brian Williams, and now MHP, I was thinking of Rachael Maddow, who got visibly upset during a news segment when a reporter was reporting what Republicans were saying. It was embarrassing to watch the reporter continue to give her hints that he was reporting news, not giving his opinion. She lost her professionalism just because an opinion she didn't like was reported in her presence. So that's four, I am thinking it's not just me.; 2/27/16, 6:22 AM
stlcdr said...: I wasn't sure, but it was noted above. The tampon earring girl (sic). That was her high point, I suppose.; 2/27/16, 6:37 AM
JAORE said...: "Besides Keith Olberman, Brian Williams, and now MHP, I was thinking of Rachael Maddow,..."

How could you leave out "The Ed (Schultz) Show" or Lawrence O'Donnell?; 2/27/16, 6:54 AM
Bob said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/27/16, 6:56 AM
JAORE said...: Interesting that she walked back the obvious racial spew by a follow up statement that she didn't think the actions of MSNBC were due to her race. It may be the first such pronouncement in her life.

Also interesting to me is that she owes the IRS a pretty good chunk of change even after 2 or 3 years of payments. Perhaps her agent mentioned the term "unemployable".; 2/27/16, 6:57 AM
dbp said...: "“After four years of building an audience, developing a brand and developing trust with our viewers, we were effectively and utterly silenced.”"

That's some first class reasoning right there: I would think the "effectively and "utterly" sort of cancel each other out. She goes on with her special form of "logic"...

"“I will not be used as a tool for their purposes,” she wrote. “I am not a token, mammy or little brown bobble head."

Seems pretty racial, but maybe not:

"“I don’t know if there is a personal racial component,” she said. “I don’t think anyone is doing something mean to me because I’m a black person.”"

MHP clearly does not understand the role she played at MSNBC. She occupied the comely racial-agitation slot. It required some talent but really, there are plenty of telegenic half-black women in America and I would estimate that most of them could do the job just as well. You could narrow it down a bit: I would want someone who holds a PhD or law degree or best, a medical doctor--just to add credibility to the show. But still, there must be thousands or tens of thousands who could fit this bill.; 2/27/16, 8:12 AM
MAJMike said...: Her contribution to intellectual discourse was the wearing of tampon earrings. Hardly what is to be expected from someone with such high speed/low drag educational credentials.; 2/27/16, 8:23 AM
virgil xenophon said...: Original Mike@9:24PM/02/24/16

"MSNBC is migrating on the ideological spectrum"-----buwaya puti

"That's too bad. They were useful as flypaper."------Original Mike.

LOL. True and absolutely TRUE!; 2/27/16, 9:17 AM
Jupiter said...: "I will not be used as a tool for their purposes."

But she would like them to continue paying her. Sounds like she is not quite clear on the term "employment".

She does have one good idea, that Melissa Harris-Perry bobblehead. I'd pay good money for one of those, with or without the signature tampon earrings. She could probably make enough selling those to pay off the IRS.; 2/27/16, 1:34 PM
Big Mike said...: I don’t think anyone is doing something mean to me because I’m a black person.

Translation: "I think Lack, Griffin, and MSNBC are doing this to me precisely because I'm a black person and for no other reason."; 2/27/16, 2:00 PM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: paminwi said...
"MHP said the only people who knew/know what "hard work" means are slaves."

She meant that nobody in her family has actually had to work for a living since 1865.; 2/28/16, 11:39 AM
McCackie said...: NO, not racism but definitely the Patriarchy.; 2/28/16, 5:57 PM
Rick said...: What do you suppose happened between these two statements?

“I will not be used as a tool for their purposes,” she wrote. “I am not a token, mammy or little brown bobble head. I am not owned by Lack, Griffin or MSNBC. I love our show. I want it back.”
___________

on Friday, Ms. Harris-Perry clarified her remarks and said she did not think race played a role in her recent absence from the air.

“I don’t know if there is a personal racial component,” she said. “I don’t think anyone is doing something mean to me because I’m a black person.”

I think it was something like this:

MSNBC: You're here to call other people racist, not us. If you can't keep it straight we'll find someone who can. Do you like those millions?

MHP: Yes.

MSNBC: Are we done here?

MHP: Yep.; 2/29/16, 6:26 AM
Anonymous said...: She's on a news network. You'd think that she'd understand the tradeoffs that involves. Big events/breaking news can break in or preempt a show any time.

This reminds me of when Jay Leno's producer cancelled a live Tonight Show during the GOP convention of 1992. She was ticked off that the coverage was going long, beyond the 11 ET mark. In a fit she sent the studio audience home and cancelled the show unilaterally, without NBC's approval.

The reason why NBC News went long? Ronald Reagan was speaking, and they weren't about to cut him off for anything short of even more urgent news.

Now a Tonight Show being cancelled has serious financial consequences for NBC, so that was the beginning of the end for that producer.

An obscure commentary show on weekend mornings? MSNBC can just re-run some Datelines and save money in the process.; 3/3/16, 4:04 PM