''PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton'' is an American political talk show broadcast on

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...

, hosted by

Al Sharpton Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, talk show host and politician. Sharpton is the founder of the National Action Network. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democrati ...

. It began on August 29, 2011, on MSNBC's weekday 6 PM slot, the first time that the slot had been occupied by a branded series since January 2011. In August 2015, it was announced that the series would move to just once a week on Sundays at 8AM starting on October 4, 2015. The series aired its final weekday episode on September 4, 2015. In October, 2020, ''PoliticsNation'' was rescheduled to Saturdays and Sundays, airing at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time both days.

History

6 PM slot prior to renaming

''PoliticsNation'' was the formal renaming of the 6 PM weekday slot that had been occupied by a broadcast named ''

MSNBC Live ''MSNBC Reports'' (formerly ''MSNBC Live'') is the blanket title for the daytime rolling news programming block of the American cable news channel MSNBC. Programs under the banner are broadcast from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET on week ...

'' (sharing the same "generic" title as the primary morning-to-afternoon rolling-news program primarily staffed by anchors.) Sharpton had served as host of the slot since July, and was preceded by

Cenk Uygur Cenk Kadir Uygur ( ; ; born March 21, 1970) is a Turkish-American progressive political commentator, media host, attorney, journalist, and politician. Uygur is the creator of ''The Young Turks'', an American left-wing, sociopolitical, progressi ...

from January to June. Prior to Uygur, the slot had been occupied by ''

The Ed Show ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' from April 6, 2009, to January 24, 2011 (eventually moving to the 10 PM slot following

Keith Olbermann Keith Theodore Olbermann (; born January 27, 1959) is an American sports and political commentator and writer. Olbermann spent the first 20 years of his career in sports journalism. He was a sports correspondent for CNN and for local TV and r ...

's departure from MSNBC), and by '' 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue'' from March 17, 2008 (as ''Race to the White House'') to April 3, 2009.

5 PM slot in year 2021

As of 2021, PoliticsNation is a 60-minutes program including the commercial times. It airs at 5 pm Eastern time in the United States on weekends. ''American Voices with

Alicia Menendez Alicia Jacobsen Menendez ( ; born July 2, 1983)Yasmin Vossoughian's ''

'' program airs before Al Sharpton's PoliticsNation.

Al Sharpton and MSNBC

Sharpton's involvement with MSNBC began after June 29, 2011, when he became the primary substitute host for ''

'', leading to press speculation that Sharpton could attain his own series on the network in the vein of Rachel Maddow (who attained her own series in 2008 after serving as

's primary substitute host on ''

Countdown with Keith Olbermann ''Countdown with Keith Olbermann'' is an hour-long weeknight news and political commentary program hosted by Keith Olbermann that aired on MSNBC from 2003 to 2011 and on Current TV from 2011 to 2012. The show presented five selected news stories o ...

''),

Lawrence O'Donnell Lawrence Francis O'Donnell Jr. (born November 7, 1951) is an American television anchor, actor, liberal political commentator, and host of '' The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell'', an MSNBC opinion and news program that airs on weeknights. H ...

(who attained his own series in 2010 after having served as Olbermann's primary substitute host) and

Chris Hayes Christopher Loffredo Hayes (; born February 28, 1979) is an American political commentator, television news anchor, activist, and author. Hayes hosts '' All In with Chris Hayes'', a weekday news and opinion television show on MSNBC. Hayes also ...

(who attained his own weekend series beginning in mid-September 2011 after having served as a regular fill-in for both Maddow and O'Donnell).

Reception

After beginning his appearances as substitute host for

Ed Schultz Edward Andrew Schultz (January 27, 1954 – July 5, 2018) was an American television and radio host, political commentator, news anchor and sports broadcaster. He was the host of '' The Ed Show'', a weekday news talk program on MSNBC fro ...

, conservative commentators and outlets slammed MSNBC's decision to hire Sharpton as a contributor (and even more so after becoming host of what became ''PoliticsNation''); ''EURweb'' cited mockery of Sharpton by such conservative outlets as Breitbart.tv in particular, doubts were raised by at least one member of the

National Association of Black Journalists The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is an organization of African-American journalists, students, and media professionals. Founded in 1975 in Washington, D.C., by 44 journalists, the NABJ's stated purpose is to provide quality p ...

about Sharpton's ability to host a credible political talk show following past controversial comments, and criticism by African-American journalists raised the possibility of MSNBC having hired Sharpton in order to draw ratings. In response, Tamika Mallory, executive director of the

National Action Network The National Action Network (NAN) is a not-for-profit, civil rights organization founded by the Reverend Al Sharpton in New York City, New York, in early 1991. In a 2016 profile, '' Vanity Fair'' called Sharpton "arguably the country's most infl ...

(which is headed by Sharpton as president) rebutted many of the criticisms in an editorial for TV One's NewsOne website, and also likened black criticism of MSNBC's decision to "crabs in a barrel".

Parody

Sharpton's style of delivery, verbalized understanding of topics on ''PoliticsNation'' and a live flub with the

teleprompter A teleprompter, also known as an autocue, is a display device that prompts the person speaking with an electronic visual text of a speech or script. Using a teleprompter is similar to using cue cards. The screen is in front of, and usually be ...

have been the subject of parody, especially on NBC series ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

'' with

Kenan Thompson Kenan Thompson (; born May 10, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He has been a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' since 2003, making him the longest-tenured cast member in the show's history. He was also t ...

playing Sharpton. It was the subject of a December 10, 2011 skit parodying the flub as well as a May 19, 2012 skit with guest star

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

as a

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the ...

executive. Sharpton himself enjoyed the skits, and had Thompson on his show in February 2015. Sharpton returned the favor by appearing on SNL in March 2016.

References

External links

* * {{MSNBC programming MSNBC original programming 2011 American television series debuts 2010s American television talk shows 2010s American television news shows English-language television shows 2020s American television news shows