Matthew Dowd says most at MSNBC knew his comments following Charlie Kirk’s death were “misconstructed,” but claims the network caved to a “Right Wing media mob” in deciding to fire him.
In a Substack article published Friday, Dowd defended his original remarks, writing, “I said in the moment that we needed to get the facts because we have no idea what this could be and that it could easily be someone firing a gun in the air to celebrate the event.”
MSNBC fired the now-former political analyst following his Wednesday appearance on Katy Tur Reports, where he commented on early reports of a shooting at Utah Valley University during an event hosted by Charlie Kirk.
“I always go back to hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions. I think that’s the environment we’re in,” Dowd said on Wednesday on MSNBC. “You can’t stop with these awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and then not expect awful actions to take place,” he added.
Charlie Kirk, 31—the conservative activist and CEO of Turning Point USA—was fatally shot on Wednesday at an event at Utah Valley University, where he appeared on his “American Comeback Tour.”
At the time of Dowd’s comments, news of Kirk’s death had not yet been made public. “The only thing known at the time was shots were fired and there was no reporting yet that Kirk was the target or had been shot at,” the political analyst explained in his Friday article.
“I thought to myself how could anyone disagree with this,” Dowd said. “I guess I was naive,” he added.
Following Dowd’s Wednesday comments, many on social media criticized his response.
“Everyone @MSNBC needs to be fired!“ Republican Rep. Tim Burchett posted on X in response to the Katy Tur Reports broadcast.
“The Right Wing media mob ginned up, went after me on a plethora of platforms, and MSNBC reacted to that mob,” Dowd said on his Substack.
On Wednesday evening, MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler issued an apology on X, calling Dowd’s remarks “inappropriate, insensitive, and unacceptable.” Dowd himself posted an apology to his Bluesky account.
“Even though most at MSNBC knew my words were being misconstrued, the timing of my words forgotten (remember I said this before anyone knew Kirk was a target), and that I apologized for any miscommunication on my part, I was terminated by the end of the day,” Dowd explained in his article.
In a Friday letter sent to all Comcast NBCUniversal employees, MSNBC executives appeared to criticize Dowd further, stating, “You may have seen that MSNBC recently ended its association with a contributor who made an unacceptable and insensitive comment about this horrific event.” They added, “We should be able to disagree, robustly and passionately, but, ultimately, with respect. We need to do better.”
Dowd ended his Substack article with a hopeful message for the future: “Even though I am down and a bit disheartened in this moment, I still have hope and faith in a majority of Americans who want and hunger for the same things I do. We can do this,” he said.
As of Friday morning, the FBI has identified the suspect in the Charlie Kirk shooting as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson.
“I hope he gets the death penalty,” President Donald Trump said referring to the suspect on Fox & Friends on Friday.
The post Fired MSNBC Contributor Says Right Wing Mob Came for Him appeared first on The Daily Beast.
