MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski was off the air a day after "Morning Joe" producers cut off her audio for making homophobic remarks about Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Brzezinski slammed the Cabinet official as "a wannabe dictator’s butt boy" after Pompeo sided with President Donald Trump and Saudi crown prince Mohammad Bin Salman in an apparent attempt at covering up the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Joe Scarborough, the show's host and Brzezinski's husband, described the off day as "a long-planned family event," and he and the show's panelists awkwardly and conspicuously talked about baseball instead of addressing her remarks.
"She's sorry she's not here because we'll be talking about baseball most of the morning," Scarborough said. "I'm just joking -- we're doing politics."
Brzezinski typically complains when Scarborough steers the conversation to sports, and the panel briefly discussed Boston Red Sox offseason transactions in her absence.
"Joe, we see who is in charge of this marriage," said MSNBC contributor Donny Deutsch, "because the second Mika is not here, we're into baseball."
