MSNBC has fired political analyst Matthew Dowd after he made what the network’s president called “inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable” comments as news broke that an assassin shot and killed prominent conservative activist and Donald Trump ally Charlie Kirk.
“Matthew Dowd is no longer an MSNBC political analyst, according to a network source,” CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter reported in an X post late Wednesday. Multiple media outlets confirmed the news Thursday morning.
Dowd sparked widespread backlash Wednesday afternoon when he told MSNBC anchor Katy Tur that the shooter could have been “a supporter shooting their gun off in celebration” and that Kirk has “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.”
“I always go back to ‘hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions,'” Dowd said, adding, “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.”
The despicable ghouls at MSNBC immediately attack Charlie Kirk in wake of shooting — Matthew Dowd blames Kirk’s pushing “hate speech” as reason he was shot:
“I always go back to hateful thoughts, lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions.”
“You can’t stop with… pic.twitter.com/Js2uESSZdQ
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) September 10, 2025
Hours later, Dowd tried to walk back his remarks, writing in a Bluesky post, “I apologize for my tone and words. Let me be clear, I in no way intended for my comments to blame Kirk for this horrendous attack.”
Many social media users doubted that Dowd’s apology was sincere. “He absolutely intended to blame Charlie Kirk [for] his own murder,” one X user wrote, saying that Dowd’s Bluesky post “is not an apology. This is an attempt to keep his job.”
Before news of Dowd’s firing broke, MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler issued a statement apologizing for the remarks. “During our breaking news coverage of the shooting of Charlie Kirk, Matthew Dowd made comments that were inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable,” the statement reads. “We apologize for his statements, as has he. There is no place for violence in America, political or otherwise.”
Dowd wasn’t the only MSNBC staffer to lash out at the victim following the shooting. Tur described Kirk as a “divisive figure, polarizing, lightning rod, whatever term you want to use.” MSNBC politics reporter Allan Smith, meanwhile, decried Kirk as having “been front and center on a lot of the more divisive social and cultural issues that have driven the MAGA movement.”
Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, died after an assassin shot him in the neck during an event at Utah Valley University. Trump was the first to announce Kirk’s passing.
“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!”
