Mehdi Hasan loves to argue during interviews. “This is what gets me going. Imagine an action movie with a debate with Jason Statham,” the former MSNBC host tellsNew York’s E. Alex Jung. “That’s like heaven for me.” In the days after October 7, Hasan brought his combative style to all things Israel, criticizing the government and its officials about how they were approaching the war in Gaza. So when MSNBC announced last November that it would be canceling his Sunday-night show, many online speculated that it was because of his political stance. In this deft profile of Hasan, Alex explores what exactly happened at the network, which was under pressure to change the tenor of its coverage. “They needed a sacrificial lamb,” one employee told him. “They needed to show that someone lost something of value because of the Israel-Gaza stuff. You get the most bang for your buck by getting rid of him.” Alex also delves deep into how Hasan developed his strategy for live debates, down to making decision trees to anticipate various answers his opponent might give. He’s now bringing it to his own media company, Zeteo, on Substack, where he hopes to become something like the Bari Weiss of the left. “In hindsight, it was a blessing,” Hasan says of his show’s cancellation. “I think being self-employed is gonna be the greatest thing that ever happened to me.”
Read the full story
