General Discussion

During MSNBC’s coverage of Kirk’s shooting, anchor Katy Tur asked Dowd about “the environment in which a shooting like this happens.” Dowd responded with the following about Kirk: “He’s been 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. And I think that is the environment we are in. You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and not expect awful actions to take place. And that’s the unfortunate environment we are in.”

The remarks sparked outrage across social media, and MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler issued an apology in response. She slammed Dowd’s comments as “inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable.”

“We apologize for his statements, as has he,” Kutler said in a statement shared to the MSNBC Public Relations X account. “There is no place for violence in America, political or otherwise.”
Dowd issued his own apology for his commentary on his BlueSky account. He wrote, “I apologize for my tone and words. Let me be clear, I in no way intended for my comments to blame Kirk for this horrendous attack. Let us all come together and condemn violence of any kind.”

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