The celebration of Andrea Mitchell‘s on-air career continued after she signed off of her final Andrea Mitchell Reports episode on Friday (February 7).
The episode concluded with a surprise drop-in and standing ovation from some fellow NBC and MSNBC folks, including Jen Psaki, Symone Sanders Townsend, Pete Williams, Peter Alexander, Kelly O’Donnell, Hallie Jackson, and former MSNBC president Rashida Jones.
MSNBC / Shannon Finney
After airing wrapped, Jones offered a champagne toast to the long-time anchor, saying, “You’ve done so much for journalists as a whole, but what you’ve done for women in this business can’t even be measured, and so I want to say thank you to you. I want to say thank you for all of the hard work and setting the standard of excellence for all of us in here. I want to say thank you for creating the curriculum of Andrea Mitchell University.”
Then, MSNBC’s interim president, Rebecca Kutler, offered her praise of Mitchell by saying, “What she has built for this place, but what she has built just on back of, what Rashida said, for women in this industry, in every part of Washington and around the world, what she has showed us that we can all do. So, it is an absolute pleasure to be here today with the family that you built.”
NBC News President Rebecca Blumenstein added, “You literally have been a trailblazer… It’s just a model for all of us, your character, your integrity, and your generosity of so many people in this room who really owe their careers to you.”
Yvette Miley, the network’s vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion, credited Mitchell with breaking barriers, saying, “Because you occupied this space, it made me feel like I could also find my place, and I know you probably did that for millions and millions of other people… There’s a couple of things that you have that make you the top journalist, and that is the grit and the grind and the heart and the hustle to do the work.”
And Pete Williams offered a more personal toast, saying, “This woman never seems to have enough time in the day for herself, but she always has enough time for others… If you have Andrea Mitchell as a friend, you have a friend for life, no matter what. God bless you, Andrea.”
MSNBC / Shannon Finney
This story originally appeared on TV Insider
