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.
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