NBC officially parts ways with host Melissa Harris-Perry

(Image credit: Larry French/Getty Images)

NBC has severed ties with Melissa Harris-Perry following an unusually public disagreement with the host, an MSNBC spokesman confirmed Sunday. Rumors that Harris-Perry would be leaving the network surfaced Saturday after Harris-Perry wrote an email to her coworkers earlier in the week saying she felt "worthless" in the eyes of network executives after several pre-emptions of her show for election coverage. "I am not a token, mammy, or little brown bobble head," Harris-Perry wrote. She also refused to appear on her program Saturday morning.

Harris-Perry was apparently displeased with the network's treatment of her program, which had been bumped in favor of presidential election coverage, and reportedly thought her show was on the verge of cancellation, something the network has denied. MSNBC has faced similar diversity criticism over its treatment of Jose Diaz-Balart's weekday show and its demotion of two African-American hosts, the Rev. Al Sharpton and Joy Reid, in order to air more breaking news coverage.