MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow revealed who she sought broadcasting advice from over at Fox News.
Vanity Fair published an interview with Maddow titled, “Exclusive: Rachel Maddow Gives Her First Interview As She Steps Back From the Nightly Grind and Revs Up For Her Next Act.”
Maddow opened up to the magazine about her relationship with former Fox News chief Roger Ailes.
“I mean that was the basis of my professional friendship with Roger Ailes. I wanted tips from him about how to be better on TV,” Maddow said.
She added, “And he was willing to talk to me about what I was doing well, and doing poorly, to help me get better.”
Additionally, Maddow commented on her relationship with the network’s Tucker Carlson.
“If you think about baseball players,” Maddow explained, adding, “Who are extremely competitive and who are fighting to win and who have rivalries, and some of those rivalries are bitter rivalries, that doesn’t mean you don’t study the pitching technique of their star pitcher.”
She continued, “It doesn’t mean you don’t appreciate whatever they’re doing in terms of, you know, where they put their shortstop in order to give them a better defense. There’s a sort of, like, respecting the game, in terms of people who are doing well and people who are good at it.”
In 2017, The Washington Post published a piece on how Maddow and Ailes “are surprisingly friendly.”
Maddow said at the time, “I tried to reach him around Christmastime.”
She added, “I just tried to reach out just to reconnect and was not able to get in touch. But Roger, if you’re reading this and you want to have a conversation, I’ll buy you breakfast.”
In 2009, CNN’s Sam Feist tweeted, “Most interesting scene at White House reception: Rachel Maddow engrossed in deep conversation with… Roger Ailes.”
most interesting scene at White House reception: Rachel Maddow engrossed in deep conversation with… Roger Ailes
— Sam Feist (@SamFeistDC) December 16, 2009
Ailes resigned as chairman and CEO of Fox News in 2016 after being accused of sexual harassment.
“Roger Ailes has made a remarkable contribution to our company and our country. Roger shared my vision of a great and independent television organization and executed it brilliantly over 20 great years,” Rupert Murdoch said in a statement at the time.
In May 2017, Ailes died at the age of 77.