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Sen. Bernie Sanders blasted MSNBC and Comcast for canceling Ed Schultz and removing one of the few voices for working Americans from television.

In a statement Sen. Sanders (I-VT) said:

We live in a time when much of the corporate media regards politics as a baseball game or a soap opera. Ed Schultz has treated the American people with respect by focusing on the most important issues impacting their lives. He has talked about income and wealth inequality, high unemployment, low wages, our disastrous trade policies and racism in America. I am very disappointed that Comcast chose to remove Ed Schultz from its lineup. We need more people who talk about the real issues facing our country, not fewer. At a time when a handful of large, multi-national corporations own our major media outlets, I hope they will allow voices to be heard from those who dissent from the corporate agenda.

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It is rare to see a sitting U.S. Senator blast a network for a programming decision, but it is also rare that a network makes such a blatantly pro-corporate decision as the one that MSNBC has made. The cancelation of Ed Schultz means that one of the only populist voices for blue collar liberalism will be taken off the air. The decision to replace Schultz’s voice with that of NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd made MSNBC’s new direction obvious.

They don’t get much more corporate than Chuck Todd. MSNBC could have replaced Schultz with a wide variety of journalists, but the network intentionally chose to replace an anti-corporate voice with a man who owes his career to not rocking the boat and doing the bidding of his corporate bosses.

Who is going to stand up to the corporations and speak out for workers on television after Schultz is gone? Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes are off doing their intellectual wonk thing that doesn’t pay much attention to the concerns of ordinary working people. The rest of the MSNBC lineup that isn’t named Joe Scarborough is rumored to up for cancelation. The voice of Ed Schultz is going by Chuck Todd and his band of Republican guests who spout Beltway talking points.

The real issues are going to get even less exposure as MSNBC has decided that corporate profits are more important than an honest media.