Former MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry said on “The View” Monday that her firing from the network 100 percent had racial implications.
Harris-Perry’s departure from the network was made public after an email from her to her staff was released. In the email she wrote, “The purpose of this decision seems to be to provide cover for MSNBC, not to provide voice for MHP Show. I will not be used as a tool for their purposes. I am not a token, mammy, or little brown bobble head.”(RELATED: Melissa Harris-Perry Is Officially OUT At MSNBC)
The college professor clarified these remarks on “The View” saying, “I’m an African-American politics scholar so when I say ‘mammy’ I mean something very particular. The history of mammy is that mammy is the black woman who cares more about the master’s family than about her own.”
She continued on to say, “I didn’t want to be used as sort of cover. Did I think it was racialized? Not in the sense of they’re coming after Melissa for being black. Do I think it has racial implications? 100 percent.”
“And here’s how I know it. Our show has the most diverse guests on cable news, period. It’s just an empirical reality. Taking this show off the air, even if you put me individually back on as a host meant that the folks who sat at our table, whether they were transgender, women of color, Latino Republicans, they just weren’t going to be there anymore, cause we were the folks who put them on air each and every week,” said Harris-Perry.
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