Chris Matthews Retires From MSNBC After More Than 20 Years | THR News - video Dailymotion

The 'Hardball' host made the shock announcement on Monday night after more than 20 years at the network.

Transcript

00:00After a conversation with MSNBC, I decided tonight will be my last hardball, so let me tell you why.

00:05MSNBC host Chris Matthews shockingly announced his retirement from the network

00:10effective immediately. The hardball host made the surprise announcement to viewers on

00:14Monday night after more than 20 years at the left-leaning cable channel.

00:17While Matthews was expected to retire in the near future, the sudden announcement

00:21comes amid a series of recent flubs and controversies. Just last week, Matthews

00:25apologized to Bernie Sanders for comparing his rise in the 2020 presidential campaign

00:30to the German invasion of France. He also confused one African-American politician,

00:34Democrat Jamie Harrison, for another African-American politician,

00:38Republican Senator Tim Scott, which he later corrected on air.

00:41Matthews, who celebrated his 20-year anniversary at MSNBC in November,

00:45addressed the news head-on on Monday, saying,

00:48Let me start with my headline tonight. I'm retiring. This is the last hardball on MSNBC.

00:53And obviously, this isn't for lack of interest in politics.

00:56As you can tell, I've loved every minute of my 20 years as host of Hardball.

01:01He continued by thanking his producers, team, and the viewers themselves for tuning in over

01:05the past 20 years, and also offered a deeper explanation for why he was signing off, saying,

01:10The younger generation is out there ready to take the reins.

01:13Matthews also seemed to reference inappropriate comments he allegedly made to a female guest,

01:26Laura Bassett, in 2016.

01:27A lot of it has to be with how we talk to each other.

01:31Compliments on a woman's appearance that some men, including me,

01:34might have once incorrectly thought were okay were never okay.

01:37Not then, and certainly not today.

01:39And for making such comments in the past, I'm sorry.

01:42The longtime host said he's working on another book and will continue to cheer on MSNBC, adding,

01:47They will continue to produce great journalism in the years ahead.

01:50Matthews signed off after his initial announcement and was replaced on Monday's show

01:54by Steve Kornacki. For more on this story, head to THR.com.

01:58For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Neha Joy.