LONDON: British-American TV news channel host Mehdi Hasan has bid farewell to MSNBC one month after the cancellation of his late-night opinion show was announced.
During the last episode, aired on Sunday, he explained his decision to leave the network.
“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,” he told viewers.
Known for its fiery interviews with political figures, Hasan’s show was discontinued as part of a broader restructuring at MSNBC. The Hill reported that Egypt-born political commentator Ayman Mohyeldin’s program would be extended by an hour to fill Hasan’s former time slot.
The show’s cancellation has coincided with Hasan’s criticism of Israel’s actions during its war with Hamas in Gaza.
Some personal news: I've decided to leave MSBNC.
New year, new plans, new challenges:pic.twitter.com/A4ArRYk9d2
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) January 8, 2024
Media analysts and fellow journalists have warned that the ending of the show would leave American audiences without a critical voice in the corporate news media amid ongoing conflicts.
In an article for news website Common Dreams, American journalist Julia Conley noted that Hasan’s show included “some of the US corporate media’s only critical coverage of the US-backed Israeli onslaught in Gaza.”
Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna described the show’s demise as “bad optics” for MSNBC, coming at a time when Hasan was making a vocal stance on human rights in Gaza.
In his farewell episode, Hasan paid tribute to AFP videographer Mustafa Thuraya, and Hamza Al-Dahdouh, a cameraman for Al Jazeera and the son of the network’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday while returning from an assignment in south Gaza.
Hasan slammed Israel for its actions, accusing officials of carrying out a genocidal plan in the Strip.
He said: “What is Israel’s end goal in Gaza? Ethnic cleansing is, of course, a war crime, but Israel continues to deny that it’s committing war crimes in Gaza even as journalists on the ground continue to document what leading human rights groups and even UN rapporteurs have said could amount to war crimes. And those journalists themselves keep getting killed.”
"Without those brave Palestinian journalists on the ground, there will be no one to tell the rest of the world about the ongoing, horrific impact of this war on the innocent people of Gaza."
My @MSNBC commentary on Gaza and the killing of journalists:pic.twitter.com/r79o44ZviE
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) January 8, 2024
Following an interview where Hasan pressed Israeli government adviser Mark Regev to address Israel’s misinformation about the war, MSNBC announced in November that the show would end after the new year, and Hasan would continue at the network as a guest host.
While initially expressing his intention to stay on as an on-camera analyst and occasional host, the reasons for Hasan’s change of heart remain unclear.
In his leaving statement, he acknowledged the past three years hosting the live show on MSNBC and thanked the production team and viewers for their support.
“I’ve decided that it’s time for me to look for a new challenge,” Hasan added.
Before joining MSNBC in 2021, Hasan worked for Al Jazeera English and hosted a podcast at The Intercept.
