Cesar Salad

Cesar Conde
In the Cesar Conde era, “no drama” has essentially been the modus operandi at NBC News, and it’s part of why the Comcast guys in Philly like him. Photo: Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images
Dylan Byers
April 11, 2024

Last Saturday evening, NBC News Group chairman Cesar Conde left his tony apartment at 15 Central Park West and traveled uptown to Harlem’s Apollo Theater, where Rachel Maddow was interviewing her colleague Joy Reid on the occasion of the latter’s new book. Just two weeks earlier, of course, both MSNBC primetime anchors had played starring roles in the network’s 24-hour on-air mutiny against Conde and his charges over their injudicious, $600,000 acquisition of Ronna McDaniel—the election-denying Trump loyalist and ex-R.N.C. chair (who also happens to be terrible on television)—as a contributor. Ostensibly, Conde was at the Apollo to play the role of supportive coach, though one suspects he hoped to earn back some goodwill for himself in the process.