The View host Meghan McCain defended former MSNBC host Chris Matthews after his abrupt resignation from the network.
“He’s a lion of cable news. I grew up watching him. I used to love his Hardball college tours. He’s a really incredible political broadcaster,” the conservative commentator said Tuesday. “I love him. I, too, watched him. It was one of the few things I could still watch on MSNBC. And I think to reduce his entire career to this segment yesterday made me really sad because I thought he deserved a better send-off than that, and I thought I might be raked over the coals for saying that today.”
Matthews announced his retirement from MSNBC on Monday after several women claimed he sexually harassed them. “Compliments on a woman’s appearance that some men, including me, might have once incorrectly thought were OK, were never OK. Not then and certainly not today, and, for making such comments in the past, I’m sorry,” the former host said.
Matthews was accused of rating and commenting on women’s appearances in the lead-up to his resignation from MSNBC. GQ columnist Laura Bassett said he asked her, “Why haven’t I fallen in love with you yet?” in the moments before appearing on his show.
McCain said the former host should not necessarily “be absolved,” but that his comments pale in comparison to behavior from other people at NBC. “There’s a lot of people at NBC that have done a lot of crap,” she said. The conservative commentator pointed to NBC News chief Andy Lack allegedly killing the Harvey Weinstein story and Brian Williams admitting to stolen valor.
