Fired MSNBC Contributor Matthew Dowd defends his “misunderstood” comments about Charlie Kirk

Matthew Dowd speaks out, days after being kicked for comments made in the wake of the shooting death of Charlie Kirk.

Kirk, a right -wing media personality and political organizer, was shot and killed During a speaking event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, September 10. He was 31.

When the news broke, Dowd, 64, appeared at Msnbc lives with katy turnWhere the host asked him about “the environment where a shooting like this happens.”

“He has been one of the most sharing, especially sharing younger figures in this, which is constantly kind of pushing this type of hatred or kind of directed at certain groups,” Dowd said of Kirk. “And I always go back to, hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions. And I think it’s the environment we are in.”

A day later, He was fired. Dowd opened about the “shell shock in the last few days” in a post on his Basis on Friday.

First, the long -term pound pointed that when his comments were made, everything he and lucky knew was that a shooting had been reported at the university where Kirk held an event. He recalled how “there was no reporting yet that Kirk was the goal or had been shot on.”

“I said Kirk has been a very sharing and polarizing figure,” Dowd wrote. “I then added that we are in a toxic time in America, unlike all other democracies in the world, where we have a combination of division and almost unlimited access to weapons. The effort from Holocaust survivor to remind people of Germany in the 1930s #itstartedwithwords came to me. I thought to me.

Dowd said that MSNBC reacted to the intense and immediate backlash from the “right media mob” when he shot him.

“Although most people at MSNBC knew that my words were misunderstood, the time for my words was forgotten (remember that I said this before anyone knew that Kirk was a goal), and that I apologize for all the wrong communication on my part, I ended at the end of the day,” he wrote.

When he looks forward to “Adventure and the journey forward,” Dowd said he will continue to use his voice to “advocate to find ways to unite our country around a common sense vision of ideals and values.”

“Recover a new America starts with new eyes, leads to a new language and will involve building new institutions and reform many who no longer suit us,” he wrote. “Even though I’m down and a little brave at this moment, I still have hope and believe in a majority of Americans who want and hunger for the same things I do. We can do it.”

In the wake of Dowd’s shooting issued Comcast managers A word of caution to employeesurges them to “get involved with respect, listen and treat people with kindness.”

“The tragic loss of Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old father, husband and advocate for open debate, whose belief was important to him, reminds us of the fragility of life and the urgent need for unit in our nation,” read the letter from Comcast Ceo Mark Roberts, Comcast President Michael Cavanagh and Versant Cav “Our hearts are heavy, as his passing leaves a grieving family and a country struggling with division. There is no place for violence or hatred in our society.”

The letter dealt with Dowd’s shooting and said that his comments were “contrary to promoting a civil dialogue and be willing to listen to views on those who have different opinions. We should be able to agree, robust and passionate, but finally with respect. We have to do better.”

It continued, “Charlie Kirk thought that” when people stop talking, really bad things start. “Whether you agreed to his political views, his words and actions underline the urgency to maintain a respectful exchange of ideas – a principle that we have to see.

“Today that faith feels more crucial than ever. Something essential has broken into our public discourse, and as a company that values ​​the power of the information, we have a responsibility to help fix it.”