Overview
- On Monday, Reid said on her independent YouTube show that “nobody Black I know is really excited about the Fourth of July” and called Juneteenth the “real” Independence Day for Black Americans.
- She argued the Fourth celebrates slaveholders who freed themselves from British taxes and said Juneteenth better reflects when the nation moved toward actual democracy.
- Reid also described Donald Trump as representing the country’s “underbelly,” language that conservative outlets seized on when amplifying her remarks.
- Right-leaning outlets and commentators including The Post Millennial, Daily Caller, Townhall, and Megyn Kelly published critical pieces that framed the comments as historically inaccurate and dismissive of July 4th.
- Reid left MSNBC in February 2025 and now reaches audiences directly via her podcast, a shift that conservative coverage says has increased partisan amplification of her views while the episode remains available with no public retraction reported.