Lawrence O’Donnell has agreed to stay at MSNBC just a few days before his contract was set to expire.
With an announcement on "The Last Word" last night, the network’s second-highest rated host told viewers he’d stay around "for the next couple of years," HuffPost reports.
O'Donnell's future at the network had looked uncertain as early as last month, after reports that MSNBC had not held discussions with O'Donnell's representatives about renewing his contract.
O’Donnell has hosted "The Last Word" since 2010. His ratings have risen along with those of his network generally since the election of President Donald Trump. In the coveted 25-to-54 demographic in May, O’Donnell (523,000) finished ahead of his 10 PM competitor Sean Hannity (518,000) at Fox News, according to Variety.
BREAKING: It looks like @Lawrence has renewed his contract and will be staying on @MSNBC for the next couple of years! Congrats! pic.twitter.com/42YVcsVkuP
— Neil Jacobs (@NeilJacobs) June 1, 2017
Despite those gains, Fox still outperformed all its cable news competitors in May viewership. Tucker Carlson had the most total viewers, helping Fox stay at No. 1 after the departure of ratings giant Bill O’Reilly. In the absence of the departed "O’Reilly Factor" host, Rachel Maddow climbed to second in total viewers at 2.58 million, and first in the 25-to-54 demo at 637,000.
After the show last night, O’Donnell tweeted, "I will be saying hi to Rachel Maddow at 10 pm for the foreseeable future." There is no word yet on the terms of his new contract.
Yes I will be saying hi to Rachel @maddow at 10pm for the foreseeable future. https://t.co/LKlkRTXL3F
— Lawrence O'Donnell (@Lawrence) June 1, 2017