- Longtime MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews announced live on his show “Hardball” that he was stepping down.
- His resignation came as a shock announcement amid drama around allegations from a female employee and concern around his comments on the 2020 presidential election.
- Matthews built a career as a Washington insider-turned journalist that sparked plenty of controversy along the way.
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MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews announced that he was retiring just days after a female columnist accused him of making inappropriate comments to her just before she appeared on his show.
In the past few weeks, he’s been at the center of other concerns: During his 2020 presidential election coverage, he likened Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign to a Nazi invasion and cast doubt on the women who alleged that former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg discriminated against his pregnant employees.
The resignation announcement — live on his show Monday — came as a shock even to Matthews’ colleagues. While Matthews has produced a lengthy track record of controversial behavior around his female peers, he’s been a political commentary mainstay for decades.