Joy Reid

What was Joy Ann Reid's childhood like?

Reid was born Joy-Ann Lomena in Brooklyn, New York City. Her father was from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and her mother, a college professor and nutritionist, was from Guyana. They met in graduate school at the University of Iowa and eventually divorced. Reid's father was an engineer who was often absent from the family, returning to the Congo after their divorce. She was raised mostly in Denver, Colorado, until the age of 17, when her mother died of breast cancer. She then moved to Flatbush, Brooklyn, to live with an aunt. Reid graduated from Harvard University in 1991 with a concentration in film studies. In college, Reid experienced a significant cultural shift, transitioning from an African American-dominated community to a predominantly white environment. This experience taught her valuable lessons about independence and self-reliance, as she paid her own bills and tuition while at Harvard.

What's the Path Ahead for Joy Reid After Her MSNBC Anchor Role?

Reid began her journalism career in 1997, leaving New York and her job at a business consulting firm to begin working in South Florida for a WSVN Channel 7 morning show. She left journalism in 2003 to work with the group America Coming Together to oppose the Iraq War and President George W. Bush. She later returned to broadcasting as a talk radio host and worked on Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. From 2006 to 2007, Reid was the co-host of Wake Up South Florida, a morning radio talk show broadcast from Radio One's then-Miami affiliate WTPS, alongside "James T" Thomas. She served as managing editor of The Grio (2011–2014), a political columnist for Miami Herald (2003–2015), and the editor of The Reid Report political blog (2000–2014). From February 2014 to February 2015, Reid hosted her own MSNBC afternoon cable news show, The Reid Report. The show was canceled on February 19, 2015, and Reid was shifted to a new role as an MSNBC national correspondent. Beginning in May 2016, Reid hosted AM Joy, a political weekend-morning talk show on MSNBC, and was a frequent substitute for other MSNBC hosts, including Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow. As of 2018, Reid's morning show on Saturdays averaged nearly one million weekly viewers. In 2017, Reid ranked fourth among Twitter's top tweeted news outlets and most tweeted journalist at each outlet. The Daily Dot credited her in August of that year with coining the term KHive for supporters of Kamala Harris. In July 2020, MSNBC announced that Reid would host The ReidOut, a new Washington-based weeknight commentary show in the 7 p.m. Eastern time slot vacated by the March 2020 retirement of Hardball host Chris Matthews, making her cable's first Black female primetime anchor. On February 23, 2025, The New York Times reported that MSNBC had canceled The ReidOut, with plans to air its final episode during the week of February 24-28. The final broadcast of The ReidOut would air on February 24, 2025. Reid also teaches a Syracuse University class in Manhattan exploring race, gender, and the media.

Has Joy Reid Received a Warm Welcome and Honors for Her Work?

In 2015, Reid delivered the inaugural Ida B. Wells lecture at Wake Forest University's Anna Julia Cooper Center. The Hollywood Reporter praised her in 2016 for having the "ability to break down complex issues in a way that makes them digestible and accessible." In 2018, The New York Times noted that Ms. Reid, the daughter of immigrants, had emerged as a "heroine" of the anti-Trump 'resistance'. Reid was a 2003 Knight Center for Specialized Journalism fellow. In 2018, she was nominated for three NABJ Salute to Excellence Awards: one for her segment on a pastor being pulled to safety during the Charlottesville white nationalist march; another for her reporting on hurricane damage in the US Virgin Islands; and lastly for the award-winning segment "Tragedy of 'Time: The Kalief Browder Story", where she interviewed Kalief's brother Deion Browder and filmmaker Julia Mason. In 2016, she received the Women's Media Center's Carol Jenkins Visible and Powerful Media Award.

Has Joy Reid's Career Been Marred by Controversy?

Has Joy Reid's past been marred by deleted blog controversies?

In late 2017 and again in April 2018, Twitter user @Jamie_maz reproduced posts from Reid's former blog Reid Report, which used insensitive tropes to mock politicians and journalists. The posts, written between 2007 and 2009, described kissing between men as disgusting, accused gay men of being attracted to young people, and declared opposition to same-sex marriage. In one post, Reid wrote that her views might make her homophobic. Reid apologized for the posts, calling them "insensitive, tone-deaf and dumb." She claimed not to remember making them and asked lawyers to investigate if her blog or archives might have been hacked. However, an analysis disputed her claims of being a victim of hacking. The LGBT advocacy group PFLAG rescinded its plan to give Reid an award, and The Daily Beast suspended future columns from her. In April 2018, further blog posts from 2005 through 2007 were brought to public attention. According to The Washington Post, the posts included encouraging readers to watch a conspiracy-theory film, making anti-Semitic remarks about Israel, and describing CNN's Wolf Blitzer as promoting his "affinity for Israeli guests" and partisanship. The Zionist Organization of America called for MSNBC to fire Reid for promoting "sinister anti-Semitic canards." In June 2018, Reid formally apologized for her past writings, saying she was a better person today than in the past and regretted her past words. MSNBC expressed continued support for Reid, stating that some blog posts were "obviously hateful and hurtful," but that they did not reflect the colleague they knew at MSNBC.

What other controversies has Joy Reid faced in her career?

On September 1, 2020, The ReidOut featured an episode where host Joy Reid criticized President Donald Trump for not condemning Kyle Rittenhouse. She claimed this stance radicalized people, likening it to leaders in the Muslim world who speak violently and encourage their supporters to commit violence. This comparison drew criticism from civil rights organizations Southern Poverty Law Center and Muslim Advocates, as well as representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, who deemed her remarks Islamophobic and demanded an apology. In contrast, commentator Jennifer Rubin defended Reid, arguing she merely highlighted a double standard in the media without endorsing it.

What is the nature of Joy Reid's personal life outside of her high-profile career?

In 1997, Reid married Jason Reid, who later became a documentary film editor. The couple has three children.

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Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America. The Man Who Sold America: Trump and the Unraveling of the American Story.