Chris Matthews, one of the country’s best-known political talk show hosts, is retiring from MSNBC, effective immediately, after a string of recent controversies on and off the air. Matthews made the announcement on Monday night’s “Hardball,” the cable news show he has hosted for more than 20 years.Monday was his final broadcast. “Obviously, this isn’t for lack of interest in politics,” Matthews said, indicating that the decision was not entirely his.Matthews was told by management to step down, said a person with knowledge of the situation, who characterized it as a firing that was masked as a retirement announcement.A different source disputed that and said it was “truly a mutual decision.”Matthews mentioned a “conversation” with management during his farewell on Monday evening.”After a conversation with MSNBC, I decided tonight will be my last ‘Hardball,’ so let me tell you why,” he said. “The younger generation’s out there ready to take the reins. We see them in politics, in media, in fighting for their causes. They’re improving the workplace.”Matthews, 74, alluded to claims of inappropriate conduct that have trailed him for years, and resurfaced last Friday when GQ columnist Laura Bassett accused Matthews of making sexist remarks when she was a guest on “Hardball” in 2016. Bassett recalled Matthews saying things like “Why haven’t I fallen in love with you yet?” and other “gross and inappropriate” comments. Matthews did not specifically mention Bassett but that was the context in which Matthews’ made his remarks on Monday night about workplaces implementing “better standards than we grew up with — fair standards. A lot of it has to do with how we talk to each other.””Compliments on a woman’s appearance that some men, including me, might have once incorrectly thought were okay, were never okay. Not then and certainly not today,” Matthews said. “And for making such comments in the past, I’m sorry. “Bassett responded to Matthews’ announcement by saying, in a tweet, “All I gotta say is… it’s about time.”Matthews thanked his viewers and producers and then signed off. After a commercial break, the program resumed with fill-in host Steve Kornacki, who seemed shocked by Matthews’ announcement. “I’m sure you’re still absorbing that, and I am too,” he said. “Chris Matthews is a giant. He’s a legend, it’s been an honor for me to work with him.”Kornacki tossed to another set of commercials, then hosted for the rest of the hour. MSNBC did not immediately name a replacement for Matthews.And it won’t be easy to do so. Matthews has been a staple of MSNBC’s political coverage almost since the cable channel launched in the mid 1990s. Through all of the channel’s changes and rebrandings, he has been a familiar face.But he has been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately — for likening the Bernie Sanders campaign to the Nazis, for misidentifying an African American politician, and for allegedly making sexist comments to Bassett. When Sanders took an early lead in the Nevada caucuses last month, Matthews likened the moment to Nazi Germany invading France during World War II. Aides to Sanders, who is Jewish, expressed shock at the analogy. Matthews’ gaffes have also caused embarrassment. Last Friday night, Matthews mixed up Jaime Harrison, a Democrat running for his party’s nomination to challenge Sen. Lindsey Graham, with Graham’s Republican Senate colleague Tim Scott. Both Harrison and Scott are African American. “Big mistake,” he said, when his guests awkwardly corrected him. Matthews had been expected to retire after the 2020 election cycle, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. One of the people said that Matthews had been in conversation with MSNBC executives about his retirement date for a period of months. But the talks “accelerated,” this person said, after the recent controversies.Matthews was noticeably absent during MSNBC’s coverage of the South Carolina primary on Saturday.

Per: CNN