X/@rustyrockets
Recently, Brand expressed his opinion on the MSNBC rebranding as “MS Now,” referring to the move as “filthy propaganda” in a clear attempt by a failing network to separate itself from its equally failing old media brand. In contrast with Brand, an independent media personality and columnist, published a video in which he cried and discussed which of the two, refocus or attention grab, was the real reason behind the rebranding.
Advertisement
The rebranding plans unveiled on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show will have the network’s name stripped to “MS Now” by the end of the year, which will stand for “my source for news.” The NBC peacock will also be taken off of the logo. Brand was quick to dismiss all of the announcements as “not breaking news” but rather “propaganda” and “marketing,” classifying the announcement as the kind of content that has come to characterize the mainstream media.
During the announcement, Joe Scarborough’s comments were criticized by Brand, mainly his comments promising that the network will become more “entrepreneurial” as well as “insurgent.” Joe Scarborough tried to defend the network, and Brand was the first to ridicule the claim Instagram. Brand ridiculed the claim by highlighting the absurdity of an established company owning the network trying to portray itself as an insurgent while at the same time doing business with “global corporatism.” Brand also pointed out the irony of Scarborough sitting in front of “icons of Washington” and at the same time claiming to escape the corporate media.
In the video, Brand is seen with a look of disgust as he watches the announcement segments, a look that increases after Scarborough reviews President Joe Biden as “the best Biden ever” both intellectually and analytically. Brand dismissed the statement as one of the many news lies, citing older contradictory statements from the same hosts.
Using the Brand style of commentary, the network’s declining ratings were highlighted, along with the mentioned MSNBC and CNN viewership losses in the last year as Fox News gained more audience share. Brand labeled the rebrand as “desperate panicking” as he thinks these networks discover along with the rise of independent media they become “unviable to advertisers.”
Labelled the networks “advertisers” panic Brand adopted during MSNBC and CNN rivalry to get the “audience share” from the “growing.” With the rise of independent media Brand thinks such networks are “unviable” with the “ad” support. Brand also highlighted with the rise of independent media players the legacy networks are losing relevance. The “desperate west” assumes the rebranding from “…. Now” is the solution for the losing old school media business.
Opposition from Audience praising Brand views reached from another angle; “Finally someone saying what we’re all thinking about this ridiculous rebrand!” was quoted and from the same audience, “They think changing the name changes the content? Same lies, different packaging” repeated the main Brand critique that the rebrand offers no real change.
Though, the remarks were not all adverse. One reasoned, “Why does he always have to be so angry about everything? Maybe they’re actually trying to improve,” implying some audience is tired of Brand’s usual antagonistic tone. Another took a more neutral stance, “I’ll believe it when I see actual change,” holding off judgment rather than rejecting the rebranding outright.
MSNBC is collapsing in real time.
Their “MS Now” rebrand isn’t news, it’s a desperate ploy to hide a failing model built on propaganda for elites, Big Pharma, and Biden.
Legacy media is dying. Independent voices are where truth is debated, uncovered, and shared freely. pic.twitter.com/kJHrzhqHuC
— Russell Brand (@rustyrockets) August 27, 2025
Amid the rebranding controversy, MSNBC in particular, along with other cable news outlets, is facing a decline in performance. Based on the Nielsen data shown in Brand’s video, MSNBC showed a year-over-year drop in the second quarter of 2025, with prime-time viewership falling by more than 15% compared to the same quarter of the prior year. This decline is a clear example of the overall struggle legacy media faces with the shift in viewer preferences to newer news platforms.
Advertisement
Brand focuses his fury on the rebrand to MSNBC as an issue, whilst he fails to see that the rebrand is the solution; his critique see rebrand as another way to hide scaffolding, which MSNBC and others desperately need. Brand is correct in assuming rebrand does nothing to address problems of low-quality content, ideological bias, or these days, the corporate stranglehold, which every media outlet suffers. Unfortunately, as a vocal commentator of the establishment media, Brand’s critique is one of the more aggressive chapters of the bitter war between him and traditional mainstream media outlets.