Melissa Harris-Perry

On February 26, 2016, Harris-Perry sent an email to co-workers that she would not host her show on MSNBC for the coming weekend, stating: "Our show was taken—without comment or discussion or notice—in the midst of an election season [...] I will not be used as a tool for [management's] purposes [...] I am not a token, mammy, or little brown bobble head." Her show was scheduled to air as usual on Saturday, but Harris-Perry chose not to return, saying: "I am only willing to return when that return happens under certain terms." She said she would only return when she could do "substantive, meaningful and autonomous work." NBC responded that "many of our daytime programs have been temporarily upended by breaking political coverage, including M.H.P." The public dispute led to discussions between the network and her representatives about ending her relationship with MSNBC. On February 28, 2016, the network confirmed that Harris-Perry was leaving the network.

On April 18, 2016, it was announced that Harris-Perry joined Elle.com as editor-at-large. In the role, Harris-Perry is stated to focus on areas of race, gender, politics, and fashion, "telling the often-overlooked stories of women and girls of color".

In April 2015, the Winston-Salem Journal reported that the IRS had placed a tax lien on the property of Harris-Perry and her husband for about $70,000 in delinquent taxes. Harris-Perry said she and her husband paid $21,721 on April 15, 2015, and have a payment plan with the IRS.

On July 1, 2014, Harris-Perry returned to Wake Forest as the Maya Angelou Presidential Chair Professor of Politics and International Affairs. The Anna Julia Cooper Project is now resident at Wake Forest.

In early 2013, Harris-Perry was criticized by some political commentators for statements she made on her program related to collective parenting. On December 31, 2013, she apologized for a "photos of the year" segment on December 28, 2013, that included jokes about a family picture featuring former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's family, including his adopted black grandson.

On February 18, 2012 Harris-Perry began hosting an MSNBC weekend morning show eponymously titled Melissa Harris-Perry.

Harris-Perry joined the political science faculty of the University of Chicago in 1999 and taught there for seven years, until 2006, when she accepted a tenured appointment at Princeton University as an Associate Professor of Political Science and African-American Studies. Harris-Perry left Princeton in 2011 after being denied a full professorship for Tulane University, where she was Founding Director of the Anna Julia Cooper Project, a center for the study of race, gender, and politics in the South.

Melissa Victoria Harris-Perry (born October 2, 1973), formerly known as Melissa Victoria Harris-Lacewell, is an American writer, professor, television host, and political commentator with a focus on African-American politics. Harris-Perry hosted the Melissa Harris-Perry weekend news and opinion television show on MSNBC from 2012 to February 27, 2016.