Americans obsessed over MSNBC election ‘map man’ during prolonged count
MSNBC’s so-called ‘map man’ became an obsession for viewers as they awaited election results
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.As the contest between Donald Trump and Joe Biden remained undecided for days before being called in Mr Biden’s favour, Americans were sure that television newscasters were there to save them, as election day turned into election week.
It centred on Steve Kornacki, MSNBC’s so-called “map man”, whose marathon on-screen appearance since Tuesday’s vote was widely admired as the nation awaited more results.
On Friday, the 41-year-old was said to have slept for only five hours between then and election day, seemingly disappearing off-screen to take a nap, before getting back in front of the network’s interactive electoral map.
Political pundits, personalities and the American public all praised the MSNBC newscaster’s commitment to delivering statistical analysis, as well as hypothetical election outcomes.
“I honestly dunno how Steve [Kornacki] is still going im bout to die,” wrote American model Chrissy Tiegan on Wednesday.
While comedian and actress, Natash Rothwell, admitted on Thursday that “As much as I want them to call this race, life without Steve Kornacki is really going to f***k me up.”
The Last Word host, Lawrence O’Donnell, wrote: “Steve Kornacki’s performance schedule [was] 12 midnight with me, 1am with me, [and] Whenever more votes are counted”.
Those comments came as other Twitter users used hashtags such as “Map Daddy” and “Chartthrob” to discuss the MSBNC newscaster.
CNN’s John King, another so called election “‘map man”, did not receive the same level of attention after election day.
Read more: Joe Biden wins the 2020 US election - follow live updates
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments