Chris Matthews has broken his silence after announcing he was retiring from his MSNBC show “Hardball” mid-broadcast after allegations surfaced of inappropriate comments he made to women.
In a feature in GQ, writer Laura Bassett recalled her own “sexist run-in” with Matthews, alleging that she was getting her makeup done in preparation for appearing on “Hardball” when Matthews joked, “Keep putting makeup on her, I’ll fall in love with her.”
Days after the article appeared, Matthews told viewers that “I’m retiring,” adding, “Comments on a woman’s appearance that some men, including me, once incorrectly thought were okay, were never okay. For making such comments in the past, I’m sorry.”
In a new interview with Vanity Fair, Matthews confirms that he did make that remark, and that it was wrong.
“I didn’t argue about it, I didn’t deny it,” Matthews tells the magazine. “I accepted the credibility of the complaint in the article. 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.”
He continued: “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.”
