NEW YORK (AP) – Longtime MSNBC host Chris Matthews abruptly retired from his “Hardball” show on Monday, apologizing for making inappropriate comments about women and saying “a younger generation is ready to take the reins.”
His exit came after a weekend of discussions with his bosses, three days after GQ ran a column by a freelance journalist about her “own sexist run-in” with Matthews in the makeup room before appearing on his show in the past.
Matthews opened his program Monday with the announcement he was ending his run on the political talk show he started in 1997, talking in his familiar staccato style. After a commercial break, he was replaced in the anchor chair by a shaken Steve Kornacki.
“This is the last ‘Hardball’ on MSNBC, and obviously this isn’t for lack of interest in politics,” Matthews said.
He said that “compliments on a woman’s appearance that some men, including me, might have incorrectly thought were OK were never OK. Not then, and certainly not today, and for making such comments in the past, I’m sorry.”