Comic book superfans have San Diego Comic-Con. Bravo superfans have BravoCon. And now dedicated MSNBC viewers have an in-person experience to satiate their particular strain of superfandom.
The network took over the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Saturday for MSNBC Live: Democracy 2024, a day-long event that put more than 4,000 of its most-dedicated viewers in the same room with 15 of its most-watched hosts to hear their analysis and hot takes on the 2024 presidential election.
And just as with Comic-Con and BravoCon, long lines, packed panels, boisterous meet-and-greets and overall fan enthusiasm were the order of the day at MSNBC Live. (The only thing missing? Cosplay.) An hour before the event kicked off, the security line to enter BAM wrapped all the way around the mammoth main building in downtown Brooklyn.
TVNewser was in the house for the afternoon session, a two-hour lineup that kicked off with a welcome by the public face of MSNBC Live, Luke Russert. First up was the dynamic duo of Steve Kornacki and Katy Tur, who walked the audience through the current state of the race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump with the aid of Kornacki’s famed big board.
Russert solicited and encouraged audience interaction in his introduction, and the crowd didn’t hold back as the political correspondent swiped through chart after chart on his magic screen. Cheers erupted anytime that he called out stats that pointed to a Harris victory, while mentions of Trump reaching 270 electoral college votes solicited the kind of Bronx cheers normally reserved for super villains like Lex Luthor or the Kingpin.
Kornacki rolled with all of the audience participation, only getting thrown off his game once. In the midst of a deep dive into the current state of play in Pennsylvania, a resident of that battleground state began shouting at the stage from his seat in the upper balcony, causing heads to turn. The interloper never finished his thought, though, seemingly quieted down by either his companions or BAM security.