Mehdi Hasan Exits MSNBC After Cancelation of His Sunday Show

Alex Weprin
·2 min read
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Mehdi Hasan is leaving MSNBC.

The cable news host said at the end of his show Sunday that he would be leaving the channel to pursue other opportunities.

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“With this show going away, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to look for a new challenge,” Hasan said. “Tonight is not just my final episode of The Mehdi Hasan Show. It’s my last day with MSNBC. Yes, I’ve decided to leave. To be clear, I am so, so proud of what we’ve achieved on this show on this network, and I can’t thank you enough for tuning in and for your support, and for your feedback. But as they say, new year, new plans.”

He added that viewers could follow on him on Instagram, Threads and X to hear what comes next for him.

MSNBC canceled Hasan’s Sunday show in November as part of a broader shakeup of its weekend lineup. At the time the channel said Hasan would stick around as a political analyst and fill-in anchor. Sunday was his last scheduled program, with the new lineup set to take effect next weekend.

Yasmin Vossoughian, another MSNBC weekend anchor, also lost her hours and shifted to a role as a fill-in anchor and national reporter.

MSNBC faced some backlash after canceling Hasan’s show, including from The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which launched a petition to reverse the decision, and from members of Congress Ro Khanna and Ilhan Omar.

“Mehdi is one of the most brilliant and most prominent Muslim journalists in the U.S.” Omar wrote. “It is deeply troubling that MSNBC is cancelling his show amid a rampant rise of anti-Muslim bigotry and suppression of Muslim voices. Anyone who cares about free expression should be concerned.”

Hasan, one of only a handful of Muslim anchors (MSNBC has two others: Ali Velshi and Ayman Mohyeldin) has been critical of the Israeli government’s military actions in Gaza, and supportive of the rights of Palestinians.

Mohyeldin will be expanding his hours to include Hassan’s old timeslot starting next week.

“It is bad optics for MSNBC to cancel Mehdi Hasan’s show right at a time when he is vocal for human rights in Gaza with the war ongoing,” Khanna said after the news broke.

He was also known for his incisive and tough interviews with guests, which often went viral on social media.

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