‘Morning Joe’ Under Fire for Pretending Pretaped Black Friday Show Was Live

MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” host, Joe Scarborough, defended himself and co-host Mika Brzezinski while attacking a Washington Post reporter in a tweet Saturday evening after the two co-hosts were caught pretending that a pretaped post-Thanksgiving show was live.

Brzezinski began the Friday broadcast of “Morning Joe” by saying, “The day after Thanksgiving, woo! I’m stuffed!” while Scarborough said, “Yeah, that was a great Thanksgiving.” The two co-hosts, who are engaged, joked about eating Brzezinski’s “still-frozen” Thanksgiving turkey, and Scarborough made vague remarks about “last night’s football.” The show’s co-anchor, Willie Geist, also kept up appearances while MSNBC political analyst Rick Tyler said that his holiday was “very successful” and filled with “interesting” conversations.

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But Friday’s show sparked widespread criticism and outrage after Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi penned a piece Friday called, “‘Morning Joe,’ did you really just pretape your post-Thanksgiving banter?”

In a Friday night tweet with the story’s link included, Farhi wrote, “Faked news? ‘Morning Joe’ passes off pretaped Thanksgiving banter as the real (live) deal.”

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The Post noted that a regular “Morning Joe” viewer tipped the outlet off about the pretaped shenanigans and wanted to know whether or not the show’s co-hosts were engaging in “fake news” by pretending to air a live show the day after Thanksgiving.

“I was quite flabbergasted by the way they were so deceptive about this … especially when they are always so quick to castigate lying [or] deception they attribute to others,” the anonymous viewer told The Post.

The “Morning Joe” viewer also informed The Post that another reason it was obvious that the Friday show had been pretaped was the fact that the co-hosts didn’t discuss the news of the day: the major terrorist attack on an Egyptian mosque, which left more than 300 people dead. Instead, Scarborough and Brzezinski spent a significant chunk of time disparaging President Donald Trump and criticizing his agenda.

“And to think that on a daily basis they call @realDonaldTrump a fraud,” LifeZette Editor-in-Chief Laura Ingraham tweeted Sunday.

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In response to Farhi’s article and tweet, Scarborough tweeted Saturday evening, “Wow. You either never watch our show or need your jokes so obvious they fall on you like an anvil on Bugs Bunny cartoons. We’ve been making fun of the practice for years. Its [sic] also over-the-top to be obvious.”

“Also, the only person you sourced was an unnamed viewer who didn’t want to be identified? Really? That’s your source. One viewer who remained anonymous?” Scarborough added. “That’s funny. Any editors around there?”

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But MSNBC’s show continued to field criticism and disappointment from fans throughout the long holiday weekend. Although it is not unusual for major networks to pretape segments or entire shows, many viewers took issue with the fact that the “Morning Joe” hosts actively pretended that the show taped on Wednesday actually was live and took place on Black Friday.

Related: Mika Brzezinski: Second Amendment Supporters Are ‘Cowards’

Although the program did not feature a disclaimer noting that the show had been pretaped, it did not include the typical “live” graphic on the screen. An unnamed MSNBC executive spoke with The Post about the “Morning Joe” show that aired Friday and defended the hosts.

“Would it have helped if there was a disclaimer? Maybe. But that’s not typically done,” the executive said. “There was no intention to trick viewers.”

Many viewers and critics took to Twitter to ridicule the show and express their disappointment with Scarborough and Brzezinski.

“#MorningJoe @JoeNBC @morningmika can you tell me now how your Christmas was this year,” one user tweeted.

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“@Morning_Joe If you lie about being at work on Friday, what else do you lie about? We know you lied about your relationship. Is there anything you won’t lie about? The last of your credibility flushed,” another user tweeted.

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