MSNBC Host Chris Matthews Resigns And Apologizes After String Of Controversies

Chris Matthews of MSNBC waits to go on the air inside the spin room at Bally's Las Vegas Hotel & Casino after the Democratic presidential primary debate on February 19, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan ... Chris Matthews of MSNBC waits to go on the air inside the spin room at Bally's Las Vegas Hotel & Casino after the Democratic presidential primary debate on February 19, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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MSNBC “Hardball” host Chris Matthews announced on Monday night that he will be retiring from the network.

“After conversation with NBC, I decided tonight will be my last ‘Hardball,'” Matthews said at the beginning of the program.

The host explained that younger generations, who are “improving the work place,” are “ready to take the reins.”

“We’re talking here about better standards than what we grew up with, fairer standards,” Matthews said. “A lot of it has to do with how we talk to each other.”

“Compliments on a woman’s appearance that some men, including me, might have once incorrectly thought were okay were never okay,” he continued. “Not then and certainly not today, and for making such comments in the past, I’m sorry.”

Matthews’ apology came several days after GQ Magazine writer Laura Bassett wrote an essay describing how he had made several misogynistic comments to her off-camera minutes before he was going to interview her about Donald Trump’s history of alleged sexual assault (Bassett had written about the experience in a 2017 HuffPost op-ed without providing Matthews’ name). Her latest essay also laid out many of the other demeaning remarks he had made to women both on and off the air over the years.

The MSNBC host also came under fire last week after he aggressively grilled 2020 candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) for siding with the female Bloomberg LLP employee who alleged that 2020 rival Michael Bloomberg had told her to “kill it” when she mentioned she was pregnant.

Other recent eyebrow-raising moments from Matthews include confusing Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) for Jaime Harrison, Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) black Democratic challenger, and likening 2020 candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) victory in Nevada to Nazi Germany’s takeover of France.

Watch Matthews’ announcement below:

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Notable Replies

  1. With a few exceptions it’s likely that ill-advised comments about women, flirting, just general inappropriate interest and crudely expressed curiosity, is a trait shared by millions of men. And for those above a certain age it manifested itself so openly almost a generation or more ago you could mine for those offended and make a case for firing or demanding the resignation of millions of employed men in the workforce, were that your mission. What’s a society to do when one segment insists, with some credence possibly, that 10 or 20 percent of the populace are sex offenders of a sort, and they want them rendered unemployable?

  2. What do you do with any alleged “sex offender”?

  3. I gather he also resigned in the broadcast - as in went to commercial and didn’t come back, leaving Steve Kornacki to cover for him.

    Seems odd to leave that bit out of the story.

  4. He has set an excellent example.

    Now Trump will have no choice but to be ashamed of his behavior towards women and resign and apologize to them for not only making inappropriate comments about women but also sexually assaulting them.

  5. Yes.

    I don’t watch, hence did not know this bit until you mentioned it.

    Thanks.

    As for his just leaving during a commercial break, well, the sooner the better.

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