Longtime anchor Chris Matthews, an on-air fixture at MSNBC since 1997, abruptly resigned from the network amid criticism about remarks he made about Sen. Bernie Sanders and remarks he made to Sen. Elizabeth Warren. He also was highly criticized after journalist Laura Bassett revealed Matthews behaved in appropriately when she was a guest on “Hardball.”
As the AP reported, Bassett wrote at GQ:
“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?’ When I laughed nervously and said nothing, he followed up to the makeup artist. ‘Keep putting makeup on her, I’ll fall in love with her,’” Bassett wrote. “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.”
On Twitter she reacted to his exit.
Here’s Matthews’s short statement.
And Steve Kornacki was left to pick up the rest of the show:
Some on social media decided it was “time to go” for Matthews, some offered good wishes: