MSNBC fired political analyst Matthew Dowd Wednesday evening after he suggested on live television that conservative activist Charlie Kirk's own "hateful rhetoric" had led to his assassination at Utah Valley University. The network's swift action came just hours after Dowd's shocking on-air commentary during breaking news coverage of Kirk's death, which left viewers and colleagues stunned by its callousness.
While Kirk lay dying in Orem, Utah, Dowd seized the moment to launch into a vicious character assassination of the 31-year-old founder of Turning Point USA.
As PJ Media reported Wednesday, while speaking to host Katy Tur during the unfolding tragedy, Dowd first suggested that Kirk was killed by a gun-toting supporter.
“We don’t know any of the full details of this, that we don’t know if this was a supporter shooting their gun off in celebration or,” he said. “So we have no idea about this.”
Then he went right to the smears.
“He’s been one of the most divisive, especially divisive, younger figures in this, who is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech or sort of aimed at certain groups,” Dowd said, implying that Kirk was responsible for getting himself shot. And as if that wasn’t disgusting enough, Dowd doubled down again, unambiguously blaming Kirk for inciting the violence made against him. “Hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions,” Dowd remarked.
The callous ideology was breathtaking. A prominent conservative had just been gunned down, and Dowd's immediate instinct was to suggest he somehow deserved it.
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Outrage over Dowd’s remarks spread like wildfire. MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler eventually issued a statement calling Dowd's remarks "inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable," but the damage was already done.
Dowd's pathetic attempt at damage control on social media only made things worse. His Bluesky post claiming he "in no way intended for my comments to blame Kirk for this horrendous attack" fooled absolutely no one. The man had spent precious airtime during breaking news coverage doing exactly that – blaming the victim for his own assassination. His call to "come together and condemn violence of any kind" rang hollow after he had just finished suggesting Kirk's rhetoric had invited violence upon himself.
Fox News Digital was first to report on the firing.
The firing represents a rare moment of accountability in an industry that has increasingly normalized the dehumanization of conservatives. Dowd, who joined MSNBC in 2022 after leaving ABC News, had already established himself as one of cable news's most virulently anti-Republican voices.
Many called for Dowd's firing before MSNBC had shown him the door.
"Dowd should be fired immediately; I expect him to be terminated within 24 hours. You can’t say Charlie deserved to die. You just can’t say that, and I hope he loses his job," Fox News' Jesse Watters said on "The Five."
White House staffers were enraged by Dowd's comments.
"They are scumbags. They need to look inward and realize they are hurting this nation with their awful rhetoric," a senior Trump administration official told Fox News Digital in reaction to the MSNBC segment.
MSNBC’s belated reckoning exposes just how far the media has strayed from basic decency. Dowd’s on-air moral bankruptcy — blaming a murder victim for his own assassination — was shocking, yet hardly surprising, given the relentless smear machine the network directs at conservatives. This is the very rhetoric MSNBC has long trafficked in because it knows it resonates with its audience. MSNBC didn’t fire Dowd for what he said; they fired him because he became a liability.
The media’s war on conservatives just hit a new low: Charlie Kirk was gunned down, and MSNBC used the tragedy to smear his name. PJ Media exposes what the mainstream media will never tell you. Join PJ Media VIP today; promo code FIGHT gives you 60% off. Don’t wait, join today.
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