Matthew Dowd Explains Charlie Kirk Remarks That Led To His Firing From MSNBC, Says His Words Were Misconstrued

 Matthew Dowd Explains Charlie Kirk Remarks That Led To His Firing From MSNBC, Says His Words Were Misconstrued

Matthew Dowd, who was fired by MSNBC for comments he made during the coverage in the immediate aftermath of the shooting of Charlie Kirk, posted a lengthier Substack response to what happened.

He said of Kirk: “He’s been one of the most divisive — especially divisive younger figures — in this, who is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech or sort of aimed at certain groups. And I always go back to, hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions. And I think that is the environment we are in. You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and not expect awful actions to take place. And that’s the unfortunate environment we are in.”

That led to an outcry on social media and later an apology from MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler. Dowd also apologized. But he was dropped from the network’s lineup of political analysts, after serving in that role since 2022.

Dowd wrote on Substack: “Keep in mind when the anchor came to me to comment on the ‘national environment’ the only thing known at the time was shots were fired and there was no reporting yet that Kirk was the target or had been shot at. I said in the moment that we needed to get the facts because we have no idea what this could be and that it could easily be someone firing a gun in the air to celebrate the event. Remember Kirk is a diehard advocate of the 2nd amendment.

Dowd wrote that the “Right Wing media mob ginned up, went after me on a plethora of platforms, and MSNBC reacted to that mob. Even though most at MSNBC knew my words were being misconstrued, the timing of my words forgotten (remember I said this before anyone knew Kirk was a target), and that I apologized for any miscommunication on my part, I was terminated by the end of the day.”

Dowd said that when he previously was chief political analyst on ABC News, there were times when he was critical of Trump and he “saw our constitutional democracy threatened.”

Dowd wrote: “A number of times then President Trump and White House staff called up the head of ABC News and tried to get me to back off and have me fired. ABC News folks came to me a number of times after that and tried to get me to not be so critical. I ultimately left ABC News and ended up as senior political analyst at MSNBC.”

Earlier on Friday, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and other top executives sent a memo to employees in which they referenced Dowd’s firing and wrote that the MSNBC coverage “was at odds with fostering civil dialogue and being willing to listen to the points of view of those who have differing opinions. We should be able to disagree, robustly and passionately, but, ultimately, with respect. We need to do better.”