Chris Matthews has been accused of making improper statements, including some about women, and has decided to leave his MSNBC show immediately. Here you will read about why did Chris Matthew Leave MSNBC?
The legendary host announced his retirement on the first Monday episode of his show. “This is the final episode of MSNBC’s ‘Hardball,’ and it wasn’t due to a lack of interest in politics. I have enjoyed every second of my 20 years hosting “Hardball.”
After announcing that he would be quitting the show immediately, Matthews, 74, astonished his coworker, NBC contributor Steve Kornacki, by leaving him to finish the show on Monday. Despite his absence from Saturday’s South Carolina Democratic primary broadcast, Chris Matthews confirmed that he and MSNBC had parted ways amicably. He also offered an apology for his previous remarks on how women look.
Matthews remarked that the younger generations are “ready to seize the reins.” “They’ve shown up in politics, the media, and activist movements. They are a positive influence on the workplace. Better expectations than the ones we were raised with are what we’re talking about here. Objective criteria.
How we interact verbally is a crucial factor. Some males, like myself, may have mistakenly assumed that it was acceptable to compliment a lady on her appearance, but that was never the case. Of course not, and the same holds for the present. I also apologize for any past remarks I may have made along these lines.”
Matthews stated that he has no regrets about his contributions to the show. I was a newspaper columnist and author for many years before I ever appeared on television,” he said. “In the meantime, I’ve started writing another novel. I plan to keep blogging and doing interviews on politics, and I’ll always support my MSNBC colleagues and the teams in Washington and New York. They will create even more excellent journalism in the years to come.”
Liz Cheney is my hero. I spent my life watching losing presidential candidates tell the truth. From Stevenson to Clinton they believed in American democracy more than themselves. Trump failed that test. Liz Cheney upholds the country’s honor.
— Chris Matthews (@HardballChris) August 8, 2022
The Associated Press reports that he had discussed retirement with MSNBC executives following the election but did not make it to Super Tuesday. According to the AP, the “Hardball” crew found out about their boss’ departure from the show around an hour and a half before Matthews made his announcement.
Matthews is one of Washington’s ultimate political beasts, a guy who lived and breathed politics, typically of the Democratic kind. He is no stranger to fiery exchanges of words during his on-air interviews. After moving to Washington, D.C. from Philadelphia, he served as a U.S. Capitol police officer before joining the staff of four different Democrats in Congress.
After serving as a speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter, Matthews became chief of staff for Massachusetts Rep. Thomas “Tip” O’Neill for six years. He was a significant player in the House’s conflicts with the Reagan administration.
In 1974, he attempted his run for a congressional seat in Pennsylvania and lost. In the primary, he received fewer than 25% of the vote. He spent 15 years as a print journalist, including time as the San Francisco Examiner’s Washington bureau chief. His discussion show, “Hardball,” debuted that year.
The political historian has declared he is a liberal over the years but is more conservative than most people realize. He had prostate surgery last year. His talent for gab was never questioned, but it got the best of him on “Hardball” when he talked so much that his guests couldn’t get a word in.
New allegations came on Friday when journalist Laura Bassett wrote in a GQ column that Matthews “inappropriately flirted with me in the makeup area” before her 2016 appearance on “Hardball.”
Freelance writer Bassett, who writes about politics, gender, and culture, recounts an encounter with Matthews in which the host asked, “Why haven’t I fallen in love with you yet?” before she was called on air to discuss s*xual assault charges against Donald Trump.
She elaborated: “When I gave a nervous chuckle and made no more response, he went on to the makeup artist. Keep applying makeup to her and I’ll eventually fall for her.” Bassett remembered another time when Matthews had complemented her red outfit and inquired about her plans for the evening after their segment.
Bassett chimed in, “I said I didn’t know.” “Again addressing the makeup artist, he emphasized the importance of removing the product from the performer’s face after the event. We didn’t invent her just so some dude in a bar could gawk at her like this.”
The way Matthews treated women was called into question not just by Bassett but by others as well.
Matthews was fired in 1999 after he made s*xually suggestive remarks to a female coworker. An MSNBC spokesman told in 2017 that the woman had received separation-related pay from the network after an incident during a “Hardball with Chris Matthews” broadcast on CNBC.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Matthews apologized for asking for his “Bill Cosby pill” before interviewing then-candidate Hillary Clinton. The remark was “bad taste,” he remarked.
I have long thought the Washington Football team should be named “The Washington Americans. It would parallel the “Nationals in MLB. It would stick to Dallas that pretends to be “America’s Team.”
Let’s hear it for The Washington Americans!!!— Chris Matthews (@HardballChris) February 1, 2022
Following an on-air conversation between the host and Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren concerning charges of s*xism against fellow candidate Mike Bloomberg, Bassett said she decided to come forward with her testimony.
The Washington Post confirmed Warren’s claim that in 1995, Bloomberg allegedly instructed a pregnant employee to “kill it.” Bloomberg disavowed making such a statement. Matthews challenged Warren several times during the post-debate coverage, “You feel he’s lying?” and “As to why he would lie… Only to keep himself safe?”
As Warren put it in his response, “Yeah. I mean, why would she even want to lie? That is the query, Chris.” According to Bassett’s essay, Matthews sought to discredit the gender discrimination claim because “he has made so many s*xist statements over the years that he has a vested interest in Bloomberg being let off the hook.”
“Just do your job.” That’s what the great Sydney Poitier told me just after Barack Obama’s inauguration when I said it would be hard reporting coldly and objectively on him given that i wanted his presidency so much to succeed in history. “Just do your job,” he kindly said.
— Chris Matthews (@HardballChris) January 11, 2022
According to the AP, after Matthews’ opening words on Monday’s show, he departed the studio with his wife and family and was never seen or heard from again. The other guests on “Hardball” who listened to his announcement were stunned.
It was “a lot to take in,” as Kornacki put it.
“Chris Matthews is a behemoth,” he went on. “He is a living legend. Because of how much he meant to you, and because of how much you meant to him, I think you’re going to miss him, and I know I am. It has been a pleasure for me to work with him and sit here occasionally.
Jonathan Lemire, a reporter for the Associated Press who covers the White House, described Matthews as “an institution at MSNBC for a long time.”
Eugene Scott, a political reporter, recalls, “within weeks of (my) starting at The Washington Post, Chris had me on ‘Hardball’ to talk about identity politics issues linked to race and, quite frankly, Millennials. Thus, it is crucial and beneficial for him to recognize that a new period has dawned and a new generation has taken the helm.”
Until a permanent replacement is named, MSNBC says it will use a rotating schedule of substitute anchors.
Keep following journalistpr.com for more updates.
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