CAA drops Ronna McDaniel after NBC News axes her

Ronna McDaniel has not had a good few days.

First, NBC News announced it would drop her as a contributor on March 26, 2024, just days after she was hired. Now, her future as a TV pundit is likely even more precarious after CAA, the agency that brokered the NBC deal, has dropped her, leaving her without any apparent representation.

The likelihood of McDaniel landing another gig at a mainstream news organization anytime soon is probably unlikely, given that one of the main reasons NBC News staffers objected to her hiring was her previous assertions that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump. 

These objections included on-air talent speaking out their concerns over the hire, referring to her history of backing misinformation that has widely been proven to be false.

McDaniel had more recently attempted to walk back on these comments, possibly because she was considering a future in paid TV gigs and knew those past statements could have been problematic (in many ways, NBC hiring her and the subsequent very public revolt amplified her past stances on the 2020 election).

While it’s possible that one of the lower-rung so-called “news” outlets with highly conservative slants could hire her, her appeal could be dimmed there by the fact she has since denounced the 2020 election lies. She is also the niece of former Sen. Mitt Romney, who has a history of opposing Trump, including being the only Republican to vote for his conviction in his first impeachment trial (McDaniel’s was originally named Ronna Romney).

She also has a mixed history of appearing to vocally supporting LGBTQ rights. 

That pedigree would likely not hold up to many viewers of these ultra-conservative media outlets. 

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It’s also not clear if she could find reputable representation given that many companies are distancing themselves from those with a past of spreading false information related to the 2020 election, which ultimately lead to the 2021 Capitol Insurrection. 

McDaniel had been the chair of the Republican National Committee since Jan. 19, 2017. She served four terms as the RNC chair and announced she would not seek election as a fifth. Her term expired March 8, 2024.

Soon after that, March 22, 2024, NBC News announced it had hired her as a paid contributor.

The deal, which was reportedly worth six-figures, was negotiated by CAA. 

NBC News, like many other news organizations, will pay former politicians and other professionals to appear on-air and offer their perspectives on a variety of issues, typically appearing as one-on-one guests in an interview-style segment or panel discussion. 

In these roles, the contributors or analysts are identified as such on-air (though most networks don’t regularly disclose that means they are being paid) and are generally not expected to offer a completely unbiased viewpoint, especially in the arena of politics. In many cases, contributors are well-known supporters of one party or cause.