According to network sources, political analyst Matthew Dowd was fired from MSNBC after comments about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
During the MSNBC reporting on Kirk’s shooting, anchor Katie Tar asked Dowd about the “circumstance where such shootings occur.” Dowd responded to Kirk: “He was one of the most divisive, particularly divisive young people who are constantly pushing this kind of hate speech or something like this kind of hate speech directed at a particular group. That’s the unfortunate environment we are in.”
The statement sparked rage across social media, and MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler has issued an apology in response. She accused Dowd of comments as “inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable.”
“We apologize for apologizing for his statement,” Kutler said in a statement shared to his MSNBC Public Relations X account. “There is no place for violence in America, whether political or not.”
Dowd issued his own apology for his commentary in his blueski description. He writes: “I apologize for my tone and words. Let’s be clear. I wasn’t going to make a comment to blame Kirk for this horrifying attack.
Kirk passed away Wednesday after being shot at a college event in Utah. He was 31 years old.
Donald Trump announced Kirk’s true social death on Wednesday afternoon. In his post, he wrote: “Even the great and legendary, Charlie Kirk is dead. He doesn’t understand the center of the youth of the United States better than Charlie, or he was loved and admired, as we, and now, with us.