Matthew Dowd, a seasoned analyst and commentator, was terminated by MSNBC over his reaction to the murder of conservative activist and influencer Charlie Kirk. Dowd described Kirk as "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. And I always go back to: hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions." After Dowd's remarks that reportedly blamed Kirk for the violent crime, MSNBC was forced to come up with an official statement distancing itself from the analyst's remarks. Later, Dowd was fired.
"During our breaking news coverage of the shooting of Charlie Kirk, Matthew Dowd made comments that were inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable," MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler said in a statement. "We apologise for his statements, as has he. There is no place for violence in America, political or otherwise," she added.
However, Matthew Dowd was not the only person who made insensitive and badly timed public statements while reacting to the murder of the Turning Point USA co-founder. Here are five other incidents of statements of poor taste about the fatal shooting that rocked the United States:
1. NFL team Carolina Panthers fired an employee over his social media posts about Kirk's murder in Utah. The man let go over his insensitive statements was identified as Charlie Rock, a member of the team’s communications department. According to Fox News, Rock questioned why people were sad that Kirk had been shot and killed. "The views expressed by our employees are their own and do not represent those of the Carolina Panthers," Carolina Panthers clarified in a statement posted to social media. "We do not condone violence of any kind. We are taking this matter very seriously and have accordingly addressed it with the individual."
2. The University of Mississippi fired an employee over her reaction to the grotesque incident. Multiple media reports identified the terminated employee as Lauren Stokes, who was an executive assistant to the vice chancellor of development at the university. University Chancellor Glenn Boyce released an official statement confirming the termination of the employee who reportedly wrote, "White supremacist and reimagined Klan members like Kirk have wreaked havoc on our communities, condemning children and the populace at large to mass death for the sake of keeping their automatic guns."
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3. An assistant campus director at George Washington University opined that it was "fair" that Kirk was fatally shot due to his support of gun ownership in the country. "If nothing else, it is fair, in a nation where children get massacred by gun violence regularly, the people who advocate for continued gun ownership at the expense of those children are not immune from the consequences of their advocacy," Anthony Pohorilak, Assistant Director of Academic Initiatives at George Washington University’s Mount Vernon Campus, posted on Facebook. "No thoughts, no prayers," he reportedly added.
4. The Connecticut Republican Party accused a Democratic state education official of posting a "chilling reaction" on social media following Kirk's murder. Farmington Board of Education Chairman Bill Beckert reportedly wrote “They Reap What They Sow,” the Republican Party claimed while sharing a screenshot of the said post. "...you’d expect Mr Beckert to show restraint and basic decency. Instead, he celebrated the brutal murder of a young husband and father of two, whose only ‘crime’ was having an opinion. That is grotesque. It is a betrayal of the values every educator and public servant should embody," Fox News quoted Connecticut Republican Party Chairman Ben Proto as saying in a statement.
5. Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath confirmed that the Texas Education Agency has initiated a probe into teachers who have allegedly shared "reprehensible and inappropriate content" regarding the murder. "TEA has been made aware of some Texas public school educators who have posted and/or shared reprehensible and inappropriate content on social media related to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. In response to such posts, I am referring all documentation of educators who have proliferated such vile content to TEA's Educator Investigation Division. Such posts could constitute a violation of the Educators' Code of Ethics, and each instance will be thoroughly reviewed to determine whether sanctionable conduct has occurred and staff will investigate accordingly," the statement read.