The big picture: MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid's blog post controversy
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Joy-Ann Reid speaks during Politicon in 2017. Photo: Ronen Tivony/NurPhoto via Getty Images
MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid has come under fire for homophobic blog posts under her name at her former blog, although she denies writing them and claims she's the victim of hacking.
The big picture: Reid faced similar criticism in December for different posts, and ultimately apologized. But this time, she's bringing in the FBI.
November 2017
Twitter user @Jamie_Maz posts comments from Reid's blog which were "criticized as homophobic and 'anti-gay,'" in reference to Rep. Charlie Crist, NBC reported.
December 2017
Reid apologizes, saying her "insensitive, tone deaf" comments were a "ham-handed way...to call out potential hypocrisy" from Crist.
April 18
@Jamie_Maz brings up more posts, saying the "homophobic blog posts were far worse than 1st reported:"
- One post says Reid "couldn't go see" Broke Back Mountain because of the gay characters: "Does that make me homophobic? Probably...But part of the intrinsic nature of 'straightness' is that the idea of homosexual sex is...well...gross."
April 23
Reid says "an unknown, external party accessed and manipulated material from my now-defunct blog... to include offensive and hateful references."
April 24
The Washington Post reports that Reid's attorney John H. Reichman provided letters to the Post sent in December to "Google's parent, Alphabet, and to Internet Archive."
- The letters claim there were "fraudulent additions" to Reid's posts, and demand an investigation to determine if the blog was "compromised."
Representatives from the Wayback Machine, where Reid's posts were archived, say there is not evidence of a hack.
April 25
Daily Beast executive editor Noah Shachtman says claims made by Reid, who is a columnist for the Beast, will be investigated by reporters Kevin Poulsen and Max Tani, and that her column will be paused in the meantime.
Reichman confirms the FBI is investigating "potential criminal activities surrounding several online accounts ... belonging to Joy-Ann Reid."
April 26
The Daily Beast pokes holes in Reid's claims that she was hacked after an internal investigation revealed the blog posts were cached and not just screenshots.
April 28
Reid apologizes for the "dumb" and "hurtful" homophobic comments in her old blog posts.
May 30
Buzzfeed News reports that Reid had at least two old blog posts that promoted 9-11 conspiracy theories. She reportedly published an infamous 9-11 conspiracy video produced in part by Infowars’ Alex Jones, and wrote in a post, “For that matter, why did any of the WTV [sic] buildings fall...? Somehow I think it will be a generation before we get the full story on what happened on 9/11?”
