Happy and free: Joy Reid celebrates her one-year ‘fireversary’ from MS Now

Reid was fired from the network formerly known as MSNBC amid a massive shakeup, despite solid ratings.

365 days after she was let go from MSNBC (now MS Now) despite high ratings, Joy Reid isn’t looking back on the moment as a sour one.

Instead, the political host and culture commentator is in a singing mood, remixing Tony! Toni! Tone! ’s “Anniversary” single to celebrate her “Fire-versary.”

In an Instagram carousel post on Tuesday (Feb. 24), Reid reflected on the emotions she had the day she was let go from the network formerly known as MSNBC.

“One year ago today, I was fired by the artist formerly known as MSNBC,” Reid began. “Yes! It was one year ago, on this very day, that MS NOW broke up with me and released me to do my independent media journey, which I am very grateful for. It has been a momentous year since Feb. 24, 2025, which was right before that “fake” State of the Union.”

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A post shared by Joy-Ann Reid (@joyannreid)

The irony? There’s another State of the Union address planned on the very same day that Reid is celebrating. In her video, Reid told longtime fans that she’s still seeing messages from a year ago about her exit pop up on her phone and urged those who wanted to celebrate with her to follow her journey on her Substack and YouTube channel.

MS Now announced the dismissal of Reid and several other employees, halting her primetime show “The ReidOut” in the process. Last June, she appeared on “The Breakfast Club,” and while she still couldn’t pinpoint an exact reason for her firing, she said she had no trouble gaining an audience for her new venture, “The Joy Reid Show.”

“The thing is, it’s so interesting, and, you know, Stephen A. Smith tried to come for me and say, ‘Oh, ratings.’ It’s like, yeah, no, that wasn’t it. Everybody, after the 2024 election, all of cable news went in the toilet. Like, everybody’s ratings dropped. And we had actually just had a ratings meeting, like, two weeks before I was fired, where they were like, ‘you guys are actually losing…less than, you know, your competitors and you’re actually doing fine. So our ratings were fine. We were doing fine,” she shared. 

In reference to “The Joy Reid Show,” she said, “We’ve had no problems getting bookings and getting support, and I’ve actually been overwhelmed by how quickly the channel has grown.  Our growth trajectory is really good and really fast and so actually, I am very blessed to say: no issues. We reached a million streams in literally a week.” 

Reid has found a lane and plenty of adversaries since she went independent, from JD Vance to Smith himself. A year after she was forced to say goodbye to her beloved show, the journalist has found a new glow. And isn’t slowing down.