Matthews Out At MSNBC After Sexism, Bigotry, Racism, & Senior Moments

Oh, the perfect irony that after almost four years of abusing Donald Trump (during his campaign and presidency) for endless character flaws, it will be President Trump that outlasts the MSDNC anchor.

At the beginning of tonight’s show – ‘Hardball’ – Chris Matthews abruptly announced his retirement after a tumultuous month that included calls for his firing.

“I’m retiring. This is the last ‘Hardball’ on MSNBC, and obviously this isn’t for lack of interest in politics,” the 74-year-old said in addressing the audience in scripted remarks.

“As you can tell, I’ve loved every minute of my 20 years as host of Hardball. Every morning I read the papers and gung-ho to get to work. Not many people have had this privilege.”

pic.twitter.com/ZKwShVaTWE

— Hardball (@hardball) March 3, 2020

“Retired” is one way of calling it…

Matthews was notably absent from the network’s live coverage of the South Carolina primary on Saturday, one day after being accused of sexual harassment by GQ columnist Laura Bassett (lambasting Matthews for comments made to a variety of women during his MSNBC career).

“I was afraid to name him at the time for fear of retaliation from the network; I’m not anymore. It was Chris Matthews. In 2016, right before I had to go on his show and talk about sexual-assault allegations against Donald Trump, Matthews looked over at me in the makeup chair next to him and said, ‘Why haven’t I fallen in love with you yet?’

So he is a sexist?

“Another time, he stood between me and the mirror and complimented the red dress I was wearing for the segment. ‘You going out tonight?’ he asked,” Bassett wrote, adding that Matthews told the makeup artists at the time, “Make sure you wipe this off her face after the show. We don’t make her up so some guy at a bar can look at her like this.”

And a bigot?

Then things got super awkward during coverage of President Donald Trump’s rally in South Carolina on Friday evening when Matthews thought Republican South Carolina Senator Tim Scott was Jaime Harrison, a Democrat running against the other senator from that state, Lindsey Graham.

The exchange between Matthews and Harrison occurred after the two had already spoken several minutes prior. Later, when Matthews saw Scott standing next to Graham, he mistook the junior South Carolina senator for Graham’s black Democratic opponent.

“Jaime, I see you standing next to the guy you’re gonna beat right there, maybe, maybe maybe, Lindsey Graham,” Matthews quipped.

“That’s Tim Scott, Tim Scott,” a female voice said off-camera.

“Jaime?” Matthews said.

“Who is that?” said the obviously confused MSNBC anchor after another correction.

“That’s Tim Scott,” Harrison said, smiling.

And is having senior moments?

Confusing two Americans because they have the same skin color?

Omg Chris Matthews Just confused Jamie Harrison for Tim Scott!
But don’t worry about it Chris I think all you old white men with toupees all look alike too! #hardball pic.twitter.com/83OGMX6sP3

— Mayday Mindy🌹🌊 (@maydaymindy9) February 29, 2020

Or is he racist?

Perhaps he should have ‘removed from office’ sooner?

In fact after his statement of retirement, Matthews attempted to address some of the recent controversies and allegations around him, trying to offer an apology.

“After my conversation with NBC, I decided tonight will be my last ‘Hardball.’ I’ll tell you why. The younger generations are ready to take the reigns. We see them in Politics, the media, they have proven in the workplace. They grew up with better standards, fair standards.”

“Compliments on a woman’s appearance some men, including me, might have once incorrectly thought were okay were never okay. Certainly not today. For making such comments in the past, I’m sorry.”

Have a great retirement Chris. Watching Trump win in November.