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Where is Chris Matthews? Why was he fired or did he just quit? nt (Original Post) Samrob Jul 2022 OP
Fired. He said something treestar Jul 2022 #1
I think he was a victim of the me-too movement. I think it went a little too far in some cases. JMO. walkingman Jul 2022 #2
It went a little too far Mr.Bill Jul 2022 #3
A "victim." No. He was a creepy sexist asshole who, when told to stop Scrivener7 Jul 2022 #7
He was not a victim. BannonsLiver Jul 2022 #9
And how do you know? Farmer-Rick Aug 2022 #29
I thought I was on ignore? BannonsLiver Aug 2022 #30
Since you continued to personally attack me over 5 times Farmer-Rick Aug 2022 #31
Oh ok. BannonsLiver Aug 2022 #32
You accused me of lying by "pretending" Farmer-Rick Aug 2022 #33
I don't think you're lying, to set the record straight BannonsLiver Aug 2022 #34
No, until you delete your statement that I was lying and pretending Farmer-Rick Aug 2022 #35
Do whatever you have to do BannonsLiver Aug 2022 #37
His woman hating ways should have led to his demise long before it did dsc Jul 2022 #10
Fuck that. Voltaire2 Aug 2022 #39
He was a cranky old man. milestogo Jul 2022 #4
He was being chastised by management & just quit mid-show. Classy. Hekate Jul 2022 #5
He lost his boss's cost/benefit calculation JHB Jul 2022 #6
Elizabeth Warren murdered him :) blogslug Jul 2022 #8
Thanks for posting, I hadn't seen this oregonjen Jul 2022 #14
Matthews got Phil Donahue fired from NBC, Submariner Jul 2022 #11
I Liked Chris Matthews DET Jul 2022 #12
Tweety has been gone for several years now Fiendish Thingy Jul 2022 #13
+1000. (nt) Paladin Aug 2022 #42
I think he died a few years after Rush Limpbawl Autumn Jul 2022 #15
Recommended. H2O Man Jul 2022 #16
I read a few years ago snowybirdie Jul 2022 #17
Yes, I hate to use the word but he was becoming more and more Raine Jul 2022 #18
Ah, a now rare opportunity to rehash my results of 10-15 yrs of monitoring him: UTUSN Jul 2022 #19
THANKS for posting this ... 👍 Raine Jul 2022 #28
Thank you. Voltaire2 Aug 2022 #41
Wow, you're a bit behind. BlackSkimmer Jul 2022 #20
Is he the one who quit and walked off the set in the middle of his own show? eShirl Jul 2022 #21
In June '21, He came on MSNBC to address his own departure: (Daily Beast) hlthe2b Jul 2022 #22
I was watching his show the night he got up and walked off the set. Talitha Jul 2022 #23
He had a history of stealing other anchors' show prep MurrayDelph Aug 2022 #38
Thanks for that info! Talitha Aug 2022 #43
He was shown the door, I believe. NT Patton French Jul 2022 #24
Quit before he was fired. (n/t) Iggo Jul 2022 #25
I still say good riddance, misogynist blowhard Novara Jul 2022 #26
He did, However, write an Excellent Book about RFK; Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit... electric_blue68 Jul 2022 #27
Wow. Maybe he should have mentioned it MurrayDelph Aug 2022 #40
I haven't missed Tweety. Not even a little bit. (nt) Paladin Aug 2022 #36
you have to be joking right? demtenjeep Aug 2022 #44

Scrivener7

(52,360 posts)
7. A "victim." No. He was a creepy sexist asshole who, when told to stop
Sun Jul 31, 2022, 03:45 PM
Jul 2022

being a creepy sexist asshole had a hissy fit and quit. Because no one tells baby not to be a creepy sexist asshole.

Farmer-Rick

(11,174 posts)
31. Since you continued to personally attack me over 5 times
Mon Aug 1, 2022, 10:08 AM
Aug 2022

DU members warned me.

Hope your next target of abuse is not totally demoralized. At least I can take your insults and know it's all about your own problems not mine.

BannonsLiver

(17,662 posts)
32. Oh ok.
Mon Aug 1, 2022, 10:09 AM
Aug 2022


Still waiting for an explanation on how pointing out your farm would not be a safe haven in a climate apocalypse is a personal attack?

Farmer-Rick

(11,174 posts)
33. You accused me of lying by "pretending"
Mon Aug 1, 2022, 10:18 AM
Aug 2022

So, why do you care?

Do you not have another target you can abuse?

BannonsLiver

(17,662 posts)
34. I don't think you're lying, to set the record straight
Mon Aug 1, 2022, 10:22 AM
Aug 2022

I have no doubt you believe it would be a safe haven. Hope that clears it up.

Farmer-Rick

(11,174 posts)
35. No, until you delete your statement that I was lying and pretending
Mon Aug 1, 2022, 10:25 AM
Aug 2022

I will block you, yet again.

Go target someone else.

dsc

(52,556 posts)
10. His woman hating ways should have led to his demise long before it did
Sun Jul 31, 2022, 03:54 PM
Jul 2022

He was a charter member of the he man woman hater club since at least the late 1990's.

Voltaire2

(14,626 posts)
39. Fuck that.
Mon Aug 1, 2022, 12:17 PM
Aug 2022

The women Matthews abused were the victims. He was a verbally abusive asshole, repeatedly, and it was all hushed up and swept under the carpet.

blogslug

(38,604 posts)
8. Elizabeth Warren murdered him :)
Sun Jul 31, 2022, 03:50 PM
Jul 2022
https://www.vox.com/2020/3/5/21166278/elizabeth-warren-drop-out-mike-bloomberg-chris-matthews

...Matthews was puzzled why Warren would believe that Bloomberg would make such a terrible comment to a pregnant employee.

“A pregnant employee sure said he did,” Warren replied. “Why shouldn’t I believe her?”

Matthews asked Warren if she believed Bloomberg was lying and Warren held firm: “I believe the woman, which means he’s not telling the truth.”

“Why would he lie?” Matthews responded, a question that has a pretty obvious answer.

“Why would she lie?” Warren fired back.

Matthews critics have been frustrated by the attitudes he’s displayed on air, unchallenged, for years. The moment with Warren felt different. Suddenly, the tide turned...



oregonjen

(3,473 posts)
14. Thanks for posting, I hadn't seen this
Sun Jul 31, 2022, 04:14 PM
Jul 2022

Her retort, “And why would she lie?” sure left a “pregnant” pause on his end.

Submariner

(12,626 posts)
11. Matthews got Phil Donahue fired from NBC,
Sun Jul 31, 2022, 04:02 PM
Jul 2022

which is certainly not the way Phil wanted his career to end, so it was only fitting that Jack Welsh’s pet backstabber Matthews went out in disgrace.

DET

(1,648 posts)
12. I Liked Chris Matthews
Sun Jul 31, 2022, 04:10 PM
Jul 2022

Yes, he had his faults - cranky at times, sexist at times, talked over his guests - but he had passion. He genuinely enjoyed talking about politics and he provided insights that only a longtime insider can offer. I miss him.

Fiendish Thingy

(17,982 posts)
13. Tweety has been gone for several years now
Sun Jul 31, 2022, 04:14 PM
Jul 2022

And good riddance to him.

Now if they’d only dump Chuck Todd and Andrea Mitchell…

H2O Man

(75,210 posts)
16. Recommended.
Sun Jul 31, 2022, 04:23 PM
Jul 2022

There are a number of wrong answers in response to your question. Matthews was told to resign -- to actually retire before his anticipated retirement date -- because of a number of comments he made regarding Bernie Sanders in the 2020 primaries. It had zero to do with the "Me Too" movement.

Chris is a conservative Democrat. He was anxious about the support Sanders was getting. He had been warned about some of his paranoid comments, but was unable to control himself.

On February 7, 2020, he said this about Bernie:

"if Castro and the Reds had won the Cold War, there would [have been] executions in Central Park and I might have been one of the ones getting executed and certain other people would be there cheering, OK? So I have a problem with people who took the other side."

That cost him the amount of time he had left to go before his contract ran out, and he planned to retire.

Raine

(30,592 posts)
18. Yes, I hate to use the word but he was becoming more and more
Sun Jul 31, 2022, 04:56 PM
Jul 2022

unhinged. I liked him but couldn't stand to watch him anymore he was obsessed and seemed to be losing touch with reality.

UTUSN

(72,214 posts)
19. Ah, a now rare opportunity to rehash my results of 10-15 yrs of monitoring him:
Sun Jul 31, 2022, 05:05 PM
Jul 2022
Etymology of "Tweety". During Campaign 2000 the media noise machine was swooning over the nicknames Shrub was giving some of them. Media Whores Online ran a contest to nickname Chris MATTHEWS. In the first three or so weeks, there was no clear, catchy front runner, with "The Screamer" sort of leading. Then one of MATTHEWS's own Hardball staff leaked to MWO that they themselves called him "Tweety" because of the Clairol shade of hair coloring he favored. This was immediately declared the winner. But in some quarters, it wasn't entirely satisfactory. For one thing, by the time the name was declared, the shade had changed to platinum, leading to a suggestion he be called "Carole LOMBARD". Plus, "Tweety" sounded too affectionate.

   

His Misogyny.  Then M-TV held its 20th or 25th or whatever anniversary, and all the cable echo chambers were doing segments of Britney shedding her duds down to almost nothing. Not to be left behind, Tweety followed suit, with a guest "culture" commentator from Time Mag, the young humor columnist, Joel STEIN. The staff kept re-running the Britney clip, and Tweety was clearly DROOLING disgustingly. STEIN said, "You're beginning to creep me out." Tweety responded, "Yeah, well, wait till YOU're 50." This led to the suggestion that "Tweety" be modified to "Tweezer" to retain the hair reference while canceling out the affection factor and also adding the (dirty old) "geezer" angle.

Back when, misogyny was a wink-wink/smirk-smirk thing among the old style flunkies like him, there were many examples of his, with HRC being his prime target for years until she was becoming a real contender, when he yearned to host her, but the bridges had been burned.
 
But here's a vignette from back in the day, regarding his wife Kathleen. He deigned to host her or let her co-host a segment or so, this time with him and another recycled miscreant Mike BARNICLE. She was standing like at the front of a class and they two were sitting like the smirking, spit-balling, Catholic schoolboy-jerks that they really are. She trudged through her presentation, taking her subject seriously while the two of them smirked, giggled, and mocked all the way. But regarding Kathleen, he exemplifies one signature characteristic of misogynists: Despite the obviously hostile behaviors, they claim to adore, honor, put-on-a-pedestal women. And Tweety frequently does that over-compensating, protests-too-much thing by referring to her as, "MY QUEEN." 

*************So flash forward decades to the TWITLER atrocious era, specifically calling Senator WARREN “Pocahontas.” Tweety hosted her soon after a TWITLER episode of it, besides a manic outburst of his sputtering interrupting, almost giggling every time he said that name, catching himself each time then protesting that it was a horrible thing, like Beavis/Butthead giggling at a dirty word. So WARREN kept to the high road and that TWITLER was not going to silence her. So then he struck, like when he lashed out at DONAHUE. He was in bursting giggle mode and said, "So, for you 'Pocahontas' will be like a clarion call for you to come charging out!1" and he busted his gut. WARREN looked sucker punched. 

Darrell HAMMOND "Doing" Tweety on SNL. Tweety's ego was massively stroked after the debut of HAMMOND's impersonation of him, either in 2001 or 2002. He said, "I am now an ICON: I have been 'done' on Saturday Night Live'." The funniest line in the debut was HAMMOND as Tweety, cracking himself up with, "For the ... FIFTY ... people who watch this show...” (Hardball, not SNL). In the first few times HAMMOND featured him, the target was Tweety himself -- manically interrupting, spitting, and drooling. However, the characterization evolved, not true to the original, where Tweety became the "rational" character surrounded by oddball, extremist "guests", with HAMMOND-Tweety shaking his head in disbelief at their partisan spin.   

"Turning" from Being a Democrat. He (like G.E.RUSSERT and Pat CADDELL) still trades on having been a Democrat in the CARTER/O'NEILL era. In the hothouse of big time political flunkydom, STATUS and POWER come from the SUCCESS of your boss. RAYGUN kicked Tweety's bosses' rears, and Tweety gravitated to admiring that "success". When he started up his media career he was mentored by G.E. RUSSERT, who had himself already started "turning" by "reaching out" to LIMBOsevic and expending his formerly-Lib-bleeding-heart on those poor wingnuts who had been maligned and marginalized by the Liberal Elite, lo those many years. Tweety started doing video valentines to RAYGUN, promenading arm in arm with Nancy. He might have tapped into the frenzy of the FAKE impeachment, but "hatred of the CLINTONs" isn't what made him turn. The last time he was identifiably a Democrat was sometime around 1988 when Hardball (the book) was published.  Throughout the year of Campaign 2000 he savaged the Dem candidate daily and went on to years of bromance over Shrub, renouncing any Democratic heritage.  He said his parents were “cloth coat" (Rethugs), and that basically what first drew him to the Dem side was Irish-Catholic pride over JFK.  Not ideology, not idealism.  He said the reason he joined the Peace Corps was specifically to avoid going to Vietnam. 

How Tweety "Executed" DONAHUE on MSNBC. Tweety was on his book tour for another one of his "books" (large type, wide spaces between lines, blank half-pages). It was in the jingoistic hysteria in the run-up to the illegal Iraq attack. The book was about supposed "Americanism" -- an American Civ 101 ripoff about books and movies and cultural stuff that are essentially American (think, "The Great Gatsby" ). So Phil welcomed him as a colleague and peer on Phil's MSNBC show for the full hour to plug the book. From the moment he appeared, there was a strange, deadly snake look in Tweety's snake eyes. Phil was walking around the audience, apparently not sensing anything, while Tweety was motionless, following him only with his eyes. Phil brought up something or other questioning blind, kneejerk jingoism, and Tweety STRUCK! He started out with venom dripping, "You see, THIS is EXACTLY what's wrong with YOU Liberals: You are NEGATIVE about this country, you find NOTHING good about it," and on and on. It took awhile before Phil figured out what was happening. Later, Phil, devastated and spent, was sitting at the table with Tweety and, weaker and weaker, did some of his trademark shoulder shrugging and arm waving. Tweety delivered the coup de grace, "What's THIS (mimicking the movements)??!! What's with the --APE-- movements???!" Days or a week or two later, Phil's cancellation was announced and took effect. 

How Tweety "Triggered" a Gun Incident (re: Kathleen WILLEY). At the height of the FAKE impeachment, Ms WILLEY claimed that a mystery jogger had threatened her or her cat or somebody, with the insinuation that there was a CLINTON connection. Several months later, there was gossip that the jogger had been identified. Tweety hosted her and it appeared they had discussed the identity off camera. He tried mightily to get her to say the name on the air, which she wouldn't do. Finally, he himself blurted it out, "Was it (Name/Surname)?" She wouldn’t confirm it. Within days there was a bizarre incident, with the mentally disabled brother of Pat and Bay BUCHANAN going with a gun to the house of the supposed jogger named by Tweety, where there were only some foreign exchange students present. Later it was determined that the person Tweety named on the air had NOTHING to do with the supposed jogger incident. 

"Heroes" Tweety and Tom DeLAY. In the aftermath of the 07-24-98 shooting of two Capitol police officers when the slain officers were duly eulogized and called heroes, Tweety latched on to this, the way we have seen him attempt to glorify himself in other instances: Like saying he was assigned to Africa in the Peace Corps and "WALKED THE SAME GROUND" THAT CHURCHILL had passed through. Or when he said, "I am an ICON! I have been 'done' by SNL!". So now that the Capitol policemen were being called heroes, Tweety came forward to say that HE had been a Capitol policemen, TOO, JUST LIKE THEM, when he was starting out. It turns out that he had worked a (temporary?) job for three months as that. In all the years before the officers were shot and eulogized, he probably NEVER referred to that job, most likely thinking of it as a rent-a-cop turn, until he could see in retrospect the glory that he had been DESTINED to from the beginning.  

But he is not the only glory hog. When that incident was happening, the news of the moment reported that Tom DELAY had hopped a plane out of town and immediately turned around in Houston when the incident was over. This show of courage is why he has been dubbed, "Tom-DePLANE!-DePLANE!-DELAY".  But searches of countless news reports of that time show no mention of the hopping-the-plane. Only this is left: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm /... "...House members, many rushing out of town, did not have to remain behind. DeLay slipped out the main door of the Capitol less than 15 minutes after the shooting. He looked stricken. Asked if he'd seen anything, he said, "Did I ever. I don't want to talk about it." Aides rushed him into his waiting car. ...."------------






Raine

(30,592 posts)
28. THANKS for posting this ... 👍
Sun Jul 31, 2022, 07:49 PM
Jul 2022

very interesting,🤔 some I knew but had forgotten but lots I didn't know.

eShirl

(18,738 posts)
21. Is he the one who quit and walked off the set in the middle of his own show?
Sun Jul 31, 2022, 05:14 PM
Jul 2022

Or am I thinking of someone else?

hlthe2b

(105,866 posts)
22. In June '21, He came on MSNBC to address his own departure: (Daily Beast)
Sun Jul 31, 2022, 05:48 PM
Jul 2022

Chris Matthews Returns to MSNBC, Says He ‘Took Complete Ownership’ Over His Departure
https://www.thedailybeast.com/chris-matthews-returns-to-msnbc-says-he-took-complete-ownership-over-his-departure


Fifteen months after his abrupt exit from the network, longtime Hardball anchor Chris Matthews returned to MSNBC on Tuesday night and briefly addressed the sexual harassment allegations that resulted in his departure.

Amid a slew of on-air stumbles and controversies in early 2020, Matthews found himself faced with accusations by political columnist Laura Bassett that he made sexually inappropriate remarks to her in 2016. Faced with increased scrutiny over both allegations of previous misconduct and his inflammatory commentary, Matthews announced in March 2020 that he was calling it quits.


“I’m retiring,” he said at the top of one of the final episodes of his long-running show, adding that he was “sorry” for his comments to Bassett. After delivering his brief on-air retirement announcement, he handed the show off to a shocked Steve Kornacki.

Matthews, who has largely been out of the public eye during the past year, announced via Twitter on Tuesday morning that he would be a guest of Joy Reid, the MSNBC host who took over his 7 p.m. time slot. Reid responded by posting a photo of the smiling pair, noting that her “pal” would be on her program to talk about his new book.

Talitha

(7,415 posts)
23. I was watching his show the night he got up and walked off the set.
Sun Jul 31, 2022, 06:44 PM
Jul 2022

His show was on but I wasn't watching it too intently. From what I recall, he sounded upset - - and then he just up and walked off the set!

There might have been election results that night, because Steve Kornacki was there. When Tweety walked off the set, Steve finished the show - what a polished professional!

MurrayDelph

(5,413 posts)
38. He had a history of stealing other anchors' show prep
Mon Aug 1, 2022, 12:11 PM
Aug 2022

On his last day of Hardball, he was told at the beginning of the day it would be his last, so he should reserve some time at the end to say his goodbyes. Instead he did no prep, came on at the beginning, said his piece, and walked off, leaving Steve Kornacke to wing the remaining 55 minutes.

Talitha

(7,415 posts)
43. Thanks for that info!
Mon Aug 1, 2022, 07:40 PM
Aug 2022

I didn't realize he knew it was his last day - how unprofessional of him to throw a hissyfit and leave Steve holding the bag.

But Steve hit the floor running, Kudos to him.

Novara

(6,102 posts)
26. I still say good riddance, misogynist blowhard
Sun Jul 31, 2022, 07:11 PM
Jul 2022

Seems a lot of the talking heads went to his School of Talking Over Guests and Not Letting Them Get a Word in Edgewise.

He was an unwatchable, misogynistic blowhard.

electric_blue68

(17,433 posts)
27. He did, However, write an Excellent Book about RFK; Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit...
Sun Jul 31, 2022, 07:14 PM
Jul 2022

Since I rarely had access to Cable I knew who he was but didn't watch.

Don't dismiss it bc he wrote it.

It traces RFK's life, political doings (including working on JFK's Campaign) with a different focus. As a child Bobby was gentle, empathetic but buried that part of himself because his father hated it, becoming "tough" instead.

How that side of him began to reemerge after the assassination of his brother President Kennedy, and became the caring man that attracted such a fervent following of disparate people; working class whites, African Americans, certain intellectuals, many liberals when he finally decided to run for the Presidency in 1968.


Yes, it'll probably make you who were old enough ache with the loss all over again., but it'll also enlighten those who are younger who might want to know more about him, and why we were passionate about his candidency.

I remember my very liberal, caring mom: who was 46 yrs old in early '68 remembering an earlier hard nosed RFK as part of Joe McCarthy's House of Unamerican Activites Anti-Communist Committee hearings which turned into a major scapegoating campaign against all manner of liberals, and left leaning citizens saying, "He's changed".

It, since I was 15 at the time of his campaign in '68 was enlightening to learn a lot more; although I knew some about him because I was (am) a NYC'r he became our US Senator, and listened to his '68 Presidential Campaign Staff who were often guests on a late night radio show.

MurrayDelph

(5,413 posts)
40. Wow. Maybe he should have mentioned it
Mon Aug 1, 2022, 12:17 PM
Aug 2022

Also, were you aware he was the only anchor who correctly pronounced the name Cheney? Chris himself was too modest to ever bring it up.

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