{"id":2486119,"date":"2025-09-13T08:41:01","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T12:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fired-msnbc-talking-head-who-made-despicable-charlie-kirk-comments-network-caved-to-right-wing-media-mob\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T08:43:38","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T12:43:38","slug":"fired-msnbc-talking-head-who-made-despicable-charlie-kirk-comments-network-caved-to-right-wing-media-mob","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fired-msnbc-talking-head-who-made-despicable-charlie-kirk-comments-network-caved-to-right-wing-media-mob\/","title":{"rendered":"Fired MSNBC Talking Head Who Made Despicable Charlie Kirk Comments: Network Caved to &#8216;Right Wing Media Mob&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffired-msnbc-talking-head-who-made-despicable-charlie-kirk-comments-network-caved-to-right-wing-media-mob%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2486119&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Matthew Dowd, a former Bush-cheney strategist and recent MSNBC commentator, was fired by the network after making controversial remarks following the assassination of Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA. Dowd characterized Kirk as a highly divisive figure who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/graphic-design-giant-canva-drops-anti-israel-campus-group\/\" title=\"Canva, a major graphic design company, cuts ties with anti-Israel campus group.\">promotes hate speech<\/a>, suggesting that hateful thoughts and words lead to hateful actions. He controversially speculated that Kirk might have been accidentally shot by a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/msnbc-analyst-speculates-charlie-kirk-was-hit-by-conservative-celebratory-gunfire-then-blames-him-for-being-shot-over-hate-speech\/\" title=\"... Analyst Speculates ... Was Hit by Conservative Celebratory ...fire, Then Blames Him for Being Shot Over &#039;...&#039;\">conservative celebratory gunfire<\/a>, comments widely seen as insensitive and inappropriate given the circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>MSNBC condemned Dowd&#8217;s remarks and terminated his contract, with network leadership calling his statements unacceptable. Dowd later defended himself on Substack, arguing that he spoke before Kirk&#8217;s shooting was confirmed, reiterated his viewpoint about the toxic national surroundings, and blamed a &#8220;Right Wing media mob&#8221; for his firing. He offered a muted apology, claiming miscommunication rather than regret over the substance of his comments.<\/p>\n<p>Critics argue that Dowd&#8217;s remarks where careless and inflammatory, especially given the context, and that his failure to fully apologize confirms why his dismissal was justified. The <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >incident underscores tensions surrounding media commentary<\/a> on political violence and divisiveness in America.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_0)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_1)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Matthew Dowd, a newly unemployed man as far as the media pundit sphere goes, would like you to know that MSNBC is responsible for caving to a &ldquo;Right Wing media mob&rdquo; who noticed what he said about Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n<p>Dowd &mdash; a former chief strategist for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/op-ed-gop-primary-voters-send-clear-message-no-going-back-pre-trump-era\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bush-Cheney<\/a> 2004 campaign who became the designated Not That Kind Of Conservative&trade; on several <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dhs-wrecks-nyt-for-puff-piece-on-deported-murderer-when-will-they-finally-shed-light-on-their-victims\/\" title=\"DHS Wrecks NYT for Puff Piece on Deported Murderer: &#039;When Will They Finally Shed Light on Their Victims?&#039;\">establishment news outlets &#038;mdash<\/a>; was fired by MSNBC shortly after he made remarks which intimated that Kirk essentially deserved his own murder and that maybe it was some random conservative yahoo shooting off his gun in celebration that killed the 31-year-old Turning Point USA founder.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/watch-utah-gov-reads-twisted-messages-engraved-bullet-casings-used-charlie-kirks-killer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kirk<\/a>, Dowd said on air in the wake of Kirk&rsquo;s assassination on Wednesday, was &ldquo;one of the most divisive, especially divisive, younger figures&rdquo; who &ldquo;is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I always go back to hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions,&rdquo; Dowd said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have, and then saying these awful words and not expect awful actions to take place.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"stnvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadScript(src) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=src; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.async=true; \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.body.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadScript(\"https:\/\/embed.sendtonews.com\/player3\/embedcode.js?fk=s28Az7AY\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #stnvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#stnvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>He added that the shooting might have been &ldquo;a supporter shooting their gun off in celebration,&rdquo; a ridiculous notion that made his firing that much more inevitable.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The despicable ghouls at MSNBC immediately attack Charlie Kirk in wake of shooting &mdash; Matthew Dowd blames Kirk&rsquo;s pushing &ldquo;hate speech&rdquo; as reason he was shot:<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I always go back to hateful thoughts, lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t stop with&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Js2uESSZdQ\">pic.twitter.com\/Js2uESSZdQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WesternLensman\/status\/1965857941564633162?\">September 10, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Dowd <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/pitiful-apology-msnbc-actually-something-fires-personality-grotesque-kirk-assassination-comments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was indeed promptly sacked by the network<\/a>, with MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/dowd-msnbc-kirk-comments-e08f349022c9d69171cd575664141075\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">calling<\/a> his comments &ldquo;inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Dowd took to Substack on Friday in an attempt to explain himself, and made these thoroughly non-exculpatory points in his defense, seriatim:<\/p>\n<p>a) We didn&rsquo;t know Kirk was dead at the time he made the remarks in question.<\/p>\n<p>b) Remember, Kirk believes in gun rights, too! That&rsquo;s why he made the remark about the shooting being accidental.<\/p>\n<p>c) He stood by precisely what he said, only restated in slightly more restrained terms.<\/p>\n<p>d) A &ldquo;Right Wing media mob&rdquo; was responsible for, you know, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/msnbc-makes-multiple-disgusting-claims-immediate-aftermath-charlie-kirk-shooting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">noticing what he said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>e) Dowd had &ldquo;apologized for any miscommunication on my part&rdquo; &mdash; which is a nice way of saying that you didn&rsquo;t understand what he was saying because you took his words at face value, jerk.<\/p>\n<p>From his <a href=\"https:\/\/matthewdowd.substack.com\/p\/a-time-to-see-with-new-eyes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Substack<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p><em>Keep in mind when the anchor came to me to comment on the &ldquo;national environment&rdquo; 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. 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. Remember Kirk is a diehard advocate of the 2nd amendment.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I said that Kirk has been a very divisive and polarizing figure. I then added that we are in a toxic time in America, unlike every other democracy in the world, where we have a combination of divisiveness and near unlimited access to guns. The effort by Holocaust survivors to remind folks of Germany in the 1930s #ItStartedWithWords came to my mind and I said my now legendary line &ldquo;hateful thoughts lead to hateful words which ultimately lead to hateful actions&rdquo;. I thought to myself how could anyone disagree with this. I guess I was naive.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Right Wing media mob ginned up, went after me on a plethora of platforms, and MSNBC reacted to that mob. 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.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Let&rsquo;s go through those points one by one, absurd though they may be on face.<\/p>\n<p>First, whether or not you know someone is alive or dead doesn&rsquo;t excuse appalling comments you make about them; I&rsquo;m not sure how this could be more self-evident. If a political figure has been shot, it&rsquo;s time for reservations &mdash; not for well-you-know-they-probably-had-it-coming rhetoric. The fact Dowd couldn&rsquo;t resist makes his remarks particularly galling, especially if he was remarking on the nature of the &ldquo;national environment&rdquo; &mdash; which, as this clip amply proved, he&rsquo;s only making worse by his presence.<\/p>\n<p>Second, the idea that some conservative shot Kirk in a fit of Yosemite Sam-like rapturous glee is beyond preposterous, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/msnbc-analyst-speculates-charlie-kirk-hit-conservative-celebratory-gunfire-blames-shot-hate-speech\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">even on MSNBC<\/a>. Dowd ought to (and does, I am almost certain) know better. Even if he did not, that still should be a reason to occasion his summary firing and preclude his hiring at another outlet until an actual apology is offered, repeatedly and at length.<\/p>\n<p>Thirdly, Dowd&rsquo;s restatement of his original remarks in his post is just an ever-so-slightly nicer way of saying the same things he got fired because of &mdash; except arguably worse, because bringing up the specter of fascism makes Kirk&rsquo;s slaying look called for, again. And yet, he wonders aloud why anyone could disagree with these thoughts. To call this &ldquo;na&iuml;vet&eacute;&rdquo; indicates just how far gone Dowd is.<\/p>\n<p>And then, another version of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/plagiarism-expert-drops-damning-post-cited-nyt-article-downplaying-allegations-kamala-harris\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&ldquo;Republicans Pounce&rdquo;<\/a> feint offered by Dowd in his own defense: &ldquo;The Right Wing media mob ginned up.&rdquo; Yes, people noticed what you said on national TV, Matthew, as a husband and father was dying in Utah. Funny how that works: a &ldquo;mob&rdquo; pays attention to the words coming out of your mouth and demands accountability for them.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, note that Dowd offers the coward&rsquo;s apology &mdash; he was sorry &ldquo;for any miscommunication on my part,&rdquo; according to his own recounting. In other words, sorry if &ldquo;I always go back to hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions&rdquo; didn&rsquo;t come across the way he apparently meant it. (Which, by the sound of his &ldquo;apology,&rdquo; is precisely how he meant it, but why let facts get in our way?)<\/p>\n<p>He adds that &ldquo;most at MSNBC knew my words were being misconstrued.&rdquo; If true, this says more about MSNBC than it does Dowd&rsquo;s abominable remarks.<\/p>\n<p>His comments may have been vile &mdash; but, by offering an apology for himself that was arguably worse, Dowd proved his firing wasn&rsquo;t just a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-this-will-decimate-policing-as-we-know-it-detroit-police-chief-tears-into-george-floyd-justice-in-policing-act\/\" title=\"WATCH: \u2018This Will Decimate Policing As We Know It\u2019: Detroit Police Chief Tears Into George Floyd Justice In Policing Act\">knee-jerk reaction<\/a> to a &ldquo;mob,&rdquo; but wholly warranted. The fact he still doesn&rsquo;t understand that proves how deplorably thick the bubble the left-wing media lives in really is. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/leftist-media-outlet-bragged-paying-witches-curse-charlie-kirk-two-days-death\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">You don&rsquo;t loathe these people enough<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew Dowd, recently dismissed from his media pundit role, claims MSNBC bowed to pressure from a &#8220;Right Wing media mob&#8221; upset by his comments about Charlie Kirk. Dowd, who was the chief strategist for the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign and later positioned as a moderate conservative on major news networks, was fired shortly after suggesting on air that Kirk&#8217;s assassination might have been caused by a random conservative celebrating with gunfire. He described Kirk as &#8220;one of the most divisive younger figures&#8221; who promotes &#8220;hate speech,&#8221; adding that hateful thoughts lead to hateful words and ultimately hateful actions.<\/p>\n<p>MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler condemned Dowd&#8217;s remarks as inappropriate and insensitive. In response, Dowd defended himself on Substack, arguing that at the time of his comments it wasn&#8217;t confirmed that Kirk had been shot; he noted Kirk&#8217;s strong support for gun rights and reiterated his original points in softer language. He also blamed a &#8220;Right Wing media mob&#8221; for amplifying outrage over his statements and offered an apology framed as regret over any miscommunication.<\/p>\n<p>Critics argue that not knowing whether someone is alive or dead does not excuse making such inflammatory remarks about them-especially during a sensitive moment-and view Dowd&#8217;s suggestion of celebratory gunfire causing the shooting as implausible. His defense is seen as insufficient and tone-deaf, reinforcing why MSNBC terminated him despite internal awareness that his words were being misunderstood. Ultimately, Dowd&#8217;s failure to grasp why his comments were offensive highlights how out of touch some in left-leaning media circles can be regarding accountability for harmful rhetoric<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2486120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2025-09-12T235323.687.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[44291,4274,36546,3746,63272],"class_list":["post-2486119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-charlie-kirk","tag-firing","tag-media-controversy","tag-msnbc","tag-right-wing-media-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2025-09-12T235323.687.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2486119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2486119"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2486119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2486123,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2486119\/revisions\/2486123"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2486120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2486119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2486119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2486119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}