MSNBC released a promo for its upcoming MS NOW rebrand, featuring Black actors portraying everyday Americans alongside clips of the network’s mostly white anchors.
The rebrand launches on Nov. 15. Narrated by Rachel Maddow, reading the U.S. Constitution, the ad is seen as an appeal to the network’s large Black viewership, despite its predominantly white on-air talent. MSNBC reported in April that it is the top cable news network among Black viewers.
The promo includes images of Martin Luther King Jr., protests, the Statue of Liberty, and clips of both actors and anchors, all set to Maddow’s narration.
“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America,” Maddow says in the video. “We the free, we the proud, we the brave, we the people.”
MSNBC does not disclose that the people shown in the promo are actors, but the Washington Free Beacon identified them as Alex Mason, Shekaya Sky McCarthy, and Marcel Noel. According to the report, Mason and Noel have appeared in numerous commercials for brands such as ZipRecruiter, KFC, Target, and Allstate, while McCarthy appears to be a comedic actress based on her IMDb profile.
The promo also shows a Black woman in a military uniform hugging her child. The Beacon believes they are actors as well, though it could not identify them. The video features white MSNBC anchors, including Lawrence O’Donnell, Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Jen Psaki, Chris Hayes, Stephanie Ruhle, Ari Melber, and Nicolle Wallace, along with Black anchors Michael Steele and Symone Sanders.
The network previously canceled its primetime show hosted by former Black anchor Joy Reid, “The ReidOut,” in February.
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