The Intercept co-founder Glenn Greenwald told Megyn Kelly that he was “formally banned” from MSNBC because of his criticism of the network’s coverage of Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.
“I used to be really good friends with Rachel Maddow,” Greenwald told Kelly on the inaugural episode of her new podcast. “Before she got her MSNBC show and was on Air America, I used to go on all the time and we used to bash Democrats from the left as a fraudulent political party.”
“She’s very, very smart. Same with [MSNBC host Chris Hayes], who’s been a longtime friend of mine. I used to go on both of their shows all the time to kind of feed the audience whatever they felt like they wanted them to be fed.”
“And then once I became a critic of Russiagate, I basically got banned from the network, because I became a critic of their coverage of it,” Greenwald said.
“Are you saying you’re banned from MSNBC?” Kelly asked.
“Yeah. I’m totally, formally banned,” Greenwald confirmed.
“How do you know?” Kelly followed.
“I have tons of friends there. I used to go on all the time. I have producers who tried to book me and they get told, ‘No. He’s on the no-book list,’ ” he responded.
An MSNBC spokesperson tells The Hill there is no ban on Greenwald, adding that no show has asked for him since 2016. According to a search of MSNBC.com, Greenwald last appeared on the network on Dec. 21, 2016.
Greenwald pushed back on MSNBC’s statement when reached for comment by The Hill.
“I was told this in 2017 and early 2018 by two separate producers with two separate shows that they were told never to book me,” he said Monday afternoon. “I should also add that it’s not just me but several liberal-left journalists — including Matt Taibbi and Jeremy Scahill — who used to regularly appear there and stopped once they expressed criticism of MSNBC’s Russiagate coverage and skepticism generally about the narrative.”
Kelly launched “The Megyn Kelly Show” podcast through her independent media company, Devil May Care, after announcing earlier this month her return to broadcasting.
—Updated at 4:41 p.m.