Executives at NBC were accused of “throwing each other under the bus” this week after the network suffered severe backlash for hiring – and then firing – ex-RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In the latest development to come after McDaniel was fired from NBC News and MSNBC on Tuesday, sources familiar with the matter compared the resulting situation to a “battle of the execs” and a “circus.”
According to one insider, MSNBC President Rashida Jones has not stopped fighting to “clear her name” after she was accused of being one of the main executives to champion McDaniel’s addition to the network.
Carrie Budoff Brown, who leads NBC News and MSNBC’s politics and elections coverage, as well as Rebecca Blumenstein, who serves as president of NBC News editorial, were also accused of being behind McDaniel’s controversial hiring.
“They wanted this to happen,” one network insider said of Jones, Brown, and Blumenstein’s alleged roles in the McDaniel controversy, according to Page Six. “They’re responsible for all the chaos. They’re the ones who courted her and did all the vetting. They were leading the charge.”
“Now, they’re all throwing each other under the bus,” the source added. “It feels like they’re planting stories about each other. It’s a circus.”
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Jones, Brown, and Blumenstein were named as the executives behind McDaniel’s hiring in a bombshell Washing Post article published on Wednesday evening.
Sources familiar with the McDaniel-NBC debacle claimed that the three network execs courted the former RNC chair to NBC News and MSNBC following her resignation from the Republican committee earlier this month.
Jones, Brown, and Blumenstein also reportedly offered McDaniel a better and “improved” contract if she agreed to appear as a paid contributor on not just NBC News but also MSNBC.
Flash forward to Thursday morning, and Jones reportedly held a call with MSNBC talent and staffers to dismiss the allegations made in the Washington Post story published the night before.
Jones apparently insisted that the rumors regarding her involvement in McDaniel’s hiring were “overstated” and, according to one staffer, seemed “fed up” with the entire situation.
“She didn’t say a lot and didn’t take questions,” one person on the call shared with Page Six. “The only thing she said was the media’s lies are distracting from their work.”
Never miss a story — sign up for the RadarOnline.com newsletter to get your daily dose of dope. Daily. Breaking. Celebrity news. All free.
“It was the [firmest] she’s been on the situation,” another network insider spilled.
Neither Brown nor Blumenstein have yet to respond to the accusations regarding their alleged roles in the McDaniel debacle.
As RadarOnline.com reported, it was announced that McDaniel was hired as a paid contributor at the network on Friday. She made her first network appearance on Sunday and, by Tuesday, was fired.
NBCU Universal Chairman Cesar Conde announced McDaniel’s departure earlier this week. He also took “full responsibility” for approving the ex-RNC chair’s hiring – even though the decision was apparently a “collective recommendation by some members of [NBC’s] leadership team.”
“There is no doubt that the last several days have been difficult for the News Group,” Conde said in an internal memo to staffers on Tuesday night. “After listening to the legitimate concerns of many of you, I have decided that Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News contributor.”
“I want to personally apologize to our team members who felt we let them down,” he continued. “While this was a collective recommendation by some members of our leadership team, I approved it and take full responsibility for it.”