Left-wing MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow is taking a break from her cable show to join the Ben Stiller production of a movie based on her 2020 book, “Bag Man.”
Maddow confirmed Monday that she’s taking “a few weeks off” from her show.
According to the Boston Globe, Maddow is taking time off to work on the Ben Stiller production of “Bag Man,” a film based on her 2018 podcast and 2020 book chronicling a political scandal that took place during the Nixon administration.
Filming her primetime show from home, due to “a recent COVID exposure,” Maddow told her audience Monday night “There may eventually be another hiatus again sometime in my future, but we are just taking it one step at a time.”
Watch below:
Rachel Maddow announces that she is going on hiatus to do other projects, but will be back full-time in April. pic.twitter.com/Lc4s5olZjF
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) February 1, 2022
The time off comes on the heels of Maddow’s new contract deal with MSNBC that will reportedly pay her up to $30 million through 2024. Maddow will also reportedly host special news broadcasts, perhaps even during her brief hiatus. She also told her audience on Monday that she’d be on the network the President Joe Biden’s state of the union address “and other major news events.”
Still, even when she returns to her nightly show, Maddow will take more time off so she can spend time developing other media ventures such as streaming and podcasts.
MSNBC president Rashida Jones recently explained that Maddow’s new deal will allow the cable news network’s star to produce other properties for them.
“We’ve got parts of our business that focus on documentaries, that focus on long-form, scripted, unscripted, films, podcasts, audio, all of these things,” Jones said last year. “Part of the process that we are figuring out with Rachel is how do we get exposure on more of those places? We do know that the work she and the team will put out every day is of high interest.”
Maddow’s nightly ratings often top CNN’s but she rarely comes anywhere near Fox News’ ratings.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.