Ronan Farrow, Woody Allen’s ‘Son,’ Scores New MSNBC Talk Show
Ronan Farrow Image by getty images
Ronan Farrow, the 25-year-old son of actress Mia Farrow, will host a one-hour weekday show starting early next year on MSNBC, the U.S. television channel said on Wednesday.
The writer and human rights lawyer, who has been in talks with MSNBC about the show for months, will also contribute to the channel’s website and NBC News.
“Ronan has established himself as a provocative, independent journalist capable of challenging people’s assumptions and empowering audiences,” Phil Griffin, MSNBC’s president, said in a statement.
“His show will be a game changer for MSNBC, representing a fresh approach to how we deliver news.”
Farrow, a Yale Law School graduate and Rhodes Scholar, said the show would be geared for a more engaged generation of viewers and what they can do to be part of the story.
“I’m excited to shake up people’s expectations for cable news. And to get a ton of Twitter followers,” he said.
Farrow worked as a foreign policy official in the first Obama administration and served as a U.S. diplomat with a focus on the conflict of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
He was thought to be the biological son of Oscar-winning director Woody Allen. But his mother cast doubt on his paternity when she said earlier this month in an interview that her former husband, singer-actor Frank Sinatra, could “possibly” be his father.
Sinatra, who died in 1998 at age 82, and Mia Farrow, 68, were married from 1966 to 1968. But the actress said the relationship continued after their divorce.
In a tweet posted after the news was reported, Farrow said, “Listen, we’re all ‘possibly’ Frank Sinatra’s son.”
His mother and Allen parted in 1992 after the director’s relationship with Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter, Soon-Yi, was revealed.
Farrow, named Satchel Ronan O’Sullivan Farrow at birth, and two of his siblings were the subjects of a custody suit between Allen, 77, and his mother, which the actress won.
Earlier this month, “30 Rock” actor Alec Baldwin’s late- night current events and culture talk show premiered on MSNBC, with New York Democratic mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio as his first guest.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
