Former MSNBC political analyst Matthew Dowd has published a detailed response on Substack after being fired for remarks he made during live coverage of the Charlie Kirk shooting.
In the immediate aftermath of the event, Dowd was asked by Katy Tur about the “environment in which a shooting like this happens.” At that time, no official reports had confirmed Kirk was the target. Dowd replied, “We don’t know if this was a supporter shooting their gun off in celebration. So we have no idea about this.”
He then described Kirk as “one of the most divisive younger figures” in American politics, arguing that “hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions.” The comments quickly sparked a backlash on social media, followed by apologies from both MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler and Dowd himself. Still, the network dropped him after serving as a political analyst since 2022.
On his Substack, Dowd defended his remarks, emphasizing the timing of his statement. “The only thing known at the time was shots were fired… I said in the moment we needed to get the facts. I thought to myself, how could anyone disagree with this? I guess I was naive.”
He claimed that right-wing media amplified outrage, pressuring MSNBC into letting him go. Dowd added that even though colleagues at MSNBC knew his words were being misconstrued, he was terminated by the end of the day.
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Dowd also drew comparisons to his tenure at ABC News, where he said he faced pushback for being critical of Donald Trump. According to Dowd, Trump and his staff even pressured the network to fire him, but ABC did not bow to the demands at the time.
Meanwhile, Comcast executives, including CEO Brian Roberts, circulated a memo acknowledging the fallout. The note stressed that MSNBC’s coverage had been “at odds with fostering civil dialogue” and underscored the need to encourage respectful debate across differing opinions.
Dowd closed his Substack reflection by reiterating that America is living through a toxic combination of divisiveness and easy access to guns, and that his message about how hateful rhetoric fuels violence should not be controversial.
