The only thing wilder than former MSNBC host Chris Matthews’s abrupt on-air resignation this year is the fact that he admitted this weekend to the specific allegation that led to his sudden exit from the liberal cable network.
“I did it,” Matthews told Vanity Fair in his first interview since leaving MSNBC. “I didn’t argue about it. I didn’t deny it.”
The longtime cable news host’s on-air resignation came shortly after GQ columnist Laura Bassett authored an article alleging that he made inappropriate comments to her on more than one occasion.
“I was afraid to name him at the time for fear of retaliation from the network,” she wrote. “I’m not anymore. It was Chris Matthews.”
Speaking to Vanity Fair, Matthews admits to what the GQ columnist alleged in late February.
“I accepted the credibility of the complaint in the [GQ] article,” he said. “I didn’t want to challenge the person that made the complaint and wrote the article. I thought it was very credible and certainly within the person’s rights to write that article, of course.”
Matthews added: “That was highly justified. Basically, as I said, to repeat myself, it’s inappropriate in the workplace to compliment somebody on their appearance, this is in the makeup chair, and I did it.”
Basset writes that as she was preparing in 2016 to join Matthews’s show as a guest, he told the makeup artists, “Keep putting makeup on her, I’ll fall in love with her.” She writes that he said on a separate occasion, “Why haven’t I fallen in love with you yet?” Basset writes that Matthews also once instructed MSNBC makeup artists to “make sure you wipe this off her face after the show. We don’t make her up so some guy at a bar can look at her like this.”
Her article was published shortly after Matthews got into a heated exchange with then-2020 Democratic candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, challenging the Massachusetts lawmaker to explain why anyone should believe the allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
On the night of his resignation, Matthews offered an on-air apology to no one in particular.
“Compliments on a woman’s appearance that some men, including me, might have once incorrectly thought were okay, were never okay,” he said. “Not then, and certainly not today. And for making such comments on the past, I’m sorry.”
Following his abrupt departure in early March, Matthews received glowing eulogies from a number of his former MSNBC coworkers, including from Morning Joe hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough.
“Chris gave us his all every night, and that’s why we were wiping tears from our eyes last night and why we’re going to miss him terribly tonight and every night when 7 o’clock rolls around,” Scarborough said. “Thank you, Chris, for all you’ve done.”
Brzezinski chimed in, “As a woman, I want to say this: I loved working with Chris Matthews.”
“I really enjoyed being his colleague,” she added. “I … wonder at this point, though, as we move forward and we look at this and what happened here, if there might be a better way for all of us in the future where we work through this and get to a better place. But for now, I’ll just say I’ll miss him every night at 7 p.m., but I remain his friend.”
