MSNBC host Martin Bashir is either out on vacation or has been temporarily suspended from the network, according to a new report by POLITICO's Dylan Byers, following his infamously crude remarks about Sarah Palin. Bashir was out all last week from his eponymous show, with frequent MSNBC contributor Joy Reid filling in up to Thanksgiving.
On the one hand, Byers cites MSNBC sources who say Bashir has been temporarily suspended from the network. Bashir's initial offending comment came over two weeks ago, and in the intervening time there was outcry not just over Bashir's comments themselves, but on the network's relative silence on Bashir compared to their much more hands-on dealings with disciplining Alec Baldwin after his homophobic remarks got the now ex-MSNBC host in hot water.
However, it's not quite clear what's going on here, as Byers found out when he tried to get an MSNBC spokesperson to comment.
MSNBC spokesperson Lauren Skowronski told a different story: 'He's still out on vacation,' she wrote in an email. Asked multiple times when Bashir would return from vacation, Skowronski did not respond.
This was the same explanation Skowronski gave Washington Post media blogger Erik Wemple last week when he inquired about Bashir's absence last Monday.
[ photo via screengrab]
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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac
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