Katie Phang

Last updated

Katie Phang
Born (1975-08-01) August 1, 1975 (age 50)
Miami, Florida
Education
Occupations
  • Lawyer
  • political commentator
  • podcaster
  • television host
Known forThe Katie Phang Show on MSNBC
SpouseJonathan Feldman
Children1

Kathleen Suzanne Phang (born August 1, 1975) [1] [2] is an American lawyer, political commentator, podcaster, and former television host. She previously hosted The Katie Phang Show on MSNBC until 2025.

Contents

Early life

Phang was born in Miami, Florida. Her father emigrated to the United States from South Korea at the age of 19. Phang graduated from Miami Palmetto Senior High School in Pinecrest, Florida. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Yale University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Miami School of Law, graduating in 2000. [2] [3] She then worked for the state attorney's office in Miami-Dade County. [2]

Career

In 2005, Phang joined WFOR-TV as a legal consultant to discuss the trial of Michael Jackson. The chief assistant to the state attorney, Katherine Fernandez Rundle, informed her that she needed to quit the role, [4] because Rundle "does not want her assistants providing public legal analysis or commentary regarding criminal trials". Phang instead quit her job with the state attorney's office, keeping the unpaid legal consultant role and joining a private law firm. [5] She also covered the trial of Robert Blake and the Terri Schiavo case for WFOR. [2] She became a legal analyst for Fox News, and was a frequent guest of Greta Van Susteren. [6]

Phang became a legal analyst for the NBCUniversal News Group in 2017. [7] In 2021, Phang appeared with Kevin O'Leary and Ada Pozo on CNBC's Money Court, where they adjudicated financial disputes. [8] In April 2022, she premiered a new Saturday show—The Katie Phang Show—on MSNBC and Peacock; the show was produced from Telemundo's Miami studios. [9] [10] Later in 2022, Phang hosted 'Class Action', a 12-part documentary podcast that followed competitive mock trial teams. [11] [12] Phang was also a fill-in host on MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes , The Beat with Ari Melber and The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell .

In February 2025, Phang's show was cancelled, effective in late April, [13] due to MSNBC's plans to consolidate their production in New York and Washington D.C. as part of their spinoff from NBCUniversal. Initially, Phang was said to be remaining with the network as a legal correspondent. [13] However, in closing remarks on the final edition of her show, Phang said she would only be appearing on MSNBC as a guest going forward.

In May 2025, Phang started a YouTube channel in partnership with the MeidasTouch Network. [14] In an October 2025 discussion with attorney Michael Popok on his Legal AF podcast at that channel, Phang expressed her certainty that she was fired from MSNBC because of her race (Korean-American), her politics, and what she called her "tone." [a]

Personal life

Phang and her husband, Jonathan Feldman, live in Miami Shores, Florida. They have a daughter. [2]

Notes

  1. Her full comments: "... [O]bviously my departure from MSNBC, mainstream media, traditional legacy media... clearly, it wasn't linked to the Charlie Kirk stuff, because I left MS as of May 1st. But it was linked to this idea of having corporate oligarchs and corporate overlords that were overly concerned about your tone and about your content. And it really was a direct result of, after Trump taking office, the FCC Chair, Brendan Carr, as y'all will remember, he was sending threatening letters to NBC, ABC, CBS, the parent companies, Comcast, Paramount, et cetera, Disney, um, saying, 'Look, I need to know all of the details about your DEI policies. I need to know everything about your woke policies and programs.' I mean, he made it very clear that he was going to do stuff like he just did in that CBS-Paramount settlement where, not only was it, you know, the $15-16 million dollars, but if you'll recall, for that merger between Skydance and Paramount, now there's a 'ombudsman,' a monitor, that looks at the programming to make sure that it's, quote, fair, and we all know what that means, right? ... So, for me to be able to be in independent media, like we are here ... we have to be able to speak unabashedly and frame things in the truth. And part of that is saying the hard things out loud. Talking about these executive orders, and saying that it is in the pursuit of cleansing this country of minorities. I could not have gotten away with saying that if I was on mainstream media, Mike. I would have gotten in a lot of trouble. I was already getting into trouble with some of the things I was saying about convicted felon Donald Trump." Popok said, "I'll say it, since you're not going to: Everybody that got canned from MSNBC was a person of color... Why is it only the Asian and Black people that end up being shown the door?" Phang said, "I think it's more about tone, about attitude, about forcefulness, urgency, exigency of messaging...and again that was the coincidence of who we were, our backgrounds, our races, et cetera." [15]

References

  1. Phang, Katie [@KatiePhang] (August 1, 2022). "@aronberg @BarbMcQuade @ColMorrisDavis Thanks, Dave!!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 28, 2023. Retrieved May 12, 2023 via Twitter.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Benn, Evan (October 29, 2018). "You may recognize Katie Phang from TV, but this Miami legal star's off-air life is equally impressive". Miami Herald. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  3. "Katie Phang, J.D. '00: Building and Applying Litigation Skills | University of Miami School of Law". Law.miami.edu. November 23, 2021. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  4. "23 Mar 2005, 127". The Miami Herald. March 23, 2005. Retrieved June 12, 2022 via Newspapers.com.
  5. Fleischman, Joan (March 26, 2005). "Burke plans to reapply to Florida Bar". The Miami Herald. p. 3B. Retrieved June 12, 2022 via Newspapers.com.
  6. "29 Nov 2015, Page A17". The Indianapolis Star. November 29, 2015. Retrieved June 12, 2022 via Newspapers.com.
  7. Johnson, Ted (February 16, 2022). "MSNBC Taps Katie Phang To Host Weekend, Streaming Shows – Deadline". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  8. Teproff, Carli (May 26, 2021). "What happens when 2 Miami lawyers join 'Mr. Wonderful' on a new TV show? We'll see soon". Miami Herald. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  9. Joyella, Mark (April 11, 2022). "MSNBC's Katie Phang Says 'Welcome To My World' On MSNBC And Peacock". Forbes. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  10. Steinberg, Brian (February 16, 2022). "Katie Phang Joins MSNBC's Weekend, Streaming Lineups". Variety. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  11. Allen, Paula (June 7, 2022). "St. Mary's Law students featured in new series". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  12. "iHeartRadio and Sound Argument Announce Class Action". News.radio-online.com. May 31, 2022. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  13. 1 2 Weprin, Alex (February 24, 2025). "MSNBC's New Lineup Revealed: Joy Reid Out, Jen Psaki Promoted and 'Weekend' Hosts On the Move". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 24, 2025.
  14. Harvey, Josephine (May 22, 2025). "Canceled MSNBC Host Reveals Her Next Move". The Daily Beast . Retrieved August 25, 2025.
  15. Popok, Michael (October 5, 2025). "Trump WALKS HIMSELF into ULTIMATE TRAP at SCOTUS?!?". Legal AF. MeidasTouch on YouTube. Retrieved October 6, 2025.