Former MSNBC, RT Host Ed Schultz Dies at 64

(Jake Bucci via Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.)

Radio and TV host Ed Schultz, who had shows on MSNBC and Russian-backed RT, died at age 64.

WDAY-TV reported that Schultz, who was once an employee at the Fargo broadcaster, died of natural causes at his Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, home.

Schultz, according to WDAY, began as a sports broadcaster for Fargo TV stations in the 1980s. He eventually tried to become a conservative pundit in the 1990s, but he later became a Democrat.

In 2009, he became a progressive pundit for MSNBC, leaving the network in 2015. In 2016, he joined RT America, a Russian government-backed station. “I’m back in prime time at 8 o’clock where I belong,” Schultz said at the time.

“Nobody is going to tell Ed Schultz what to say,” he also said when taking the RT job.

The most recent episode of his RT show was on July 2. “This is a great career opportunity. It’s an international news organization that functions on all continents. It’s something that I have never had the opportunity to do, and that’s anchor a nightly news program,” he was quoted by WDAY as saying.

Other details about his death were not clear.

A number of people mourned his death on social media.

This is a breaking news story; check back for more updates later.