MSNBC Fires Political Commentator Hours After 'Unacceptable' Charlie Kirk Comments

MSNBC fired senior political analyst Matthew Dowd on Wednesday hours after he made widely criticised comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, according to multiple reports. 

Speaking after the shooting, but before it was reported that Kirk had died, MSNBC host Katy Tur asked Dowd about the “environment” in which violence such as this can take place. 

“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 sort of aimed at certain groups,” Dowd said of Kirk, adding: 

“And I always go back to: Hateful thoughts, lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions. And I think that’s the environment we’re in... You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have, and then saying these awful words, and not expect awful actions to take place. And that’s the unfortunate environment we’re in.”

His comments were condemned online, especially by figures on the right, causing MSNBC to trend on X amid a growing call for Dowd to be fired. 

MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler condemned the comments as “inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable.” 

“We apologise for his statements, as has he,” she said in a statement released online. “There is no place for violence in America, political or otherwise.”

Dowd, who was the chief strategist of George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign, also apologised for his “tone and words” shortly after the broadcast.

“Let me be clear, I in no way intended for my comments to blame Kirk for this horrendous attack,” he wrote on Bluesky. “Let us all come together and condemn violence of any kind.” 

However, by evening, multiple news outlets, including Variety and Deadline, reported that MSNBC had dropped Dowd. 

Kirk, 31, was shot and killed during an event at Utah Valley University. 

A suspect has not been publicly named.