NEW YORK — MSNBC’s Chris Matthews said Thursday that he was wrong to say last week that the reason Hillary Clinton is a senator and a candidate for president “is that her husband messed around.” Matthews discussed those remarks at the opening of his show “Hardball” on Thursday, the same day feminist leader Gloria Steinem and the heads of four prominent women’s groups complained in a letter to his boss that Matthews had shown a pattern of sexism.
“Was it fair to imply that Hillary’s whole career depended on being a victim of an unfaithful husband? No,” Matthews said. “That’s what it sounded like I was saying, and it hurt people I’d like to think normally like what I say (and), in fact, like me.”
Matthews made the remarks about Clinton on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program Jan. 9, the day after the New Hampshire primary.
