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:
MSNBC's Chris Matthews announces his retirement and apologizes for past sexist remarks. pic.twitter.com/FMRi9vjF44
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) March 3, 2020
