Voting Station

Melissa Harris-Perry

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TV Personality

The Resume

    (October 2, 1973- )
    Born in Seattle, Washington
    Author of 'Barbershops, Bibles and BET' and 'Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America'
    Frequent guest host for 'The Rachel Maddow Show'
    Host of the MSNBC show, 'Melissa Harris Perry'
    Former Associate Professor at Princeton University, Former Prof. of Political Science at Tulane University and currently Chair of International Affairs and Politics at Wake Forest University.
    Was known as Melissa Harris Lacewell until her marriage to James Perry, in 2010

Why she might be annoying:

    She was given a gift of 'tampon earrings' and wore them on her show to protest Texas’ anti-abortion legislation (where's Mr. Blackwell when you need him).
    Her husband was a 2010 candidate for Mayor of New Orleans, leading to questions of her partisan objectivity.
    She came to national attention in 2008 during a heated ‘Democracy Now’ segment with Gloria Steinem in which she accused Steinem and the Clinton campaign of race baiting.
    She is an early knee-jerk Obama supporter and frequently uses the race card to silence opposition (ex. claiming that using the term ‘Obamacare’ is the same as the N-word).
    Her show’s title is unimaginative (just, Melissa Harris Perry)
    Her maxim is ‘the struggle continues.’
    A video went viral of her launching into a random outburst during a panel discussion, pounding on the table and hysterically shouting ‘what is riskier than being poor in America? Seriously! What in the world is riskier than being a poor person in America?’
    She sparked controversy when joking about the race of Mitt Romney’s black adopted grandson during a ‘photos of the year’ panel discussion (Dec. 2013).
    She attended Jeremiah Wright’s controversial Trinity Church and believes that he was ‘absolutely right’ in saying that 9/11 was ‘the chickens coming home to roost.’
    She was denied a full professorship at Princeton University due to ‘questions about her work and an assessment of where she is in her career.’

Why she might not be annoying:

    She teared up in an emotional on-air apology to the Romney family.
    It is believed that MSNBC network executives threw her under the bus as no other major party involved in the incident issued an apology.
    She was taken out of context by the Right wing when they claimed that she said ‘your kids belong to us’ in reference to collective parenting (she didn’t).
    Her house in New Orleans was destroyed by Hurricane Isaac in Sept. 2012.
    She is a survivor of sexual violence.
    She eviscerated Senate candidate Richard Murdock for asserting that rape-induced pregnancy was something that God ‘intended to happen,’ in a powerful ‘open letter’ monologue.
    She makes a better attempt than most MSNBC hosts at staying fair & balanced on her program.
    Her segments are often both creative and inventive.
    Of her infamous 2008 ‘Democracy Now’ segment, she said, ‘I had just gotten back into town and I was exhausted. My hair looked awful; I was up against an orange background. It was my least favorite interview in about four hundred different ways.’
    She has done extensive research into the news coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 126 Votes: 59.52% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 134 Votes: 52.24% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 67 Votes: 65.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 298 Votes: 45.64% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 70 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 190 Votes: 64.21% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 587 Votes: 83.65% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 166 Votes: 80.12% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 260 Votes: 55.38% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 245 Votes: 54.69% Annoying