Matthew Dowd broke his silence two days following his MSNBC firing after comments about the conservative activist Charlie Kirk. "The Right Wing media mob ginned up, went after me on a plethora of platforms, and MSNBC reacted to that mob," Dowd, 64, said in a statement posted to his Substack on Friday, September 12. "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.