Matthew Dowd broke his silence on Friday about being fired from MSNBC after his controversial on-air commentary about the shooting of Charlie Kirk—in which he said that “hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which ultimately lead to hateful actions”—went viral.
The former senior political analyst claimed during a live commentary that he was unaware that Kirk was the target of a campus shooting during his Utah Valley University event. Writing on his personal substance, the journalist blamed a “right-wing media mob” for misinterpreting his words and said, “MSNBC responded to that mob.”
“I said that Kirk has been a very divisive and polarizing figure. I then added that we are in a toxic time in America, unlike every other democracy in the world, where we have a combination of divisiveness and near unlimited access to guns. The effort by Holocaust survivors to remind folks of Germany in the 1930s #ItStartedWithWords came to my mind and I said my now legendary line ‘hateful thoughts lead to hateful words which actions,” Dove wrote. I guess I was naive.”
He continued, “The right-wing media mob went after me on a plethora of platforms, and MSNBC responded to that mob. While most of MSNBC knew my words were being misinterpreted, the timing of my words was forgotten (remember, I said them before anyone knew Kirk was a target), and I apologize for any miscommunication on my part, which is over by the end of the day.”
More to come…
