UPDATE, 8:09 p.m. Eastern: Chris Matthews did not address the story published by The Cut or offer an apology during Friday's edition of Hardball. The show appeared to be taped at some point earlier in the day based on the lack of a "Live" tag in the lower third of the screen.
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On Friday, New York magazine blog The Cut published a January 5, 2016 video of MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews jokingly asking his staff for water and the “Bill Cosby pill I brought with me” prior to an interview with Hillary Clinton.
While Matthews apologized, this marked the latest evidence of inappropriate behavior by Matthews and the third story in less than a month with the first two coming thanks to The Daily Caller’s Amber Athey. The first pertained to a sexual harassment payment doled out in 1999 and the second detailed an abusive work environment.
Matthews and his staff were set up on that January 2016 day and awaiting Clinton’s arrival when the Hardball host asked: “Can I have some of the queen’s waters? Precious waters?” The Cut’s Noreen Malone reported that the disturbing joke came next while he waited for a glass of water:
And then, as he waits for the water, he adds, “Where’s that Bill Cosby pill I brought with me?” Matthews then laughs, delighted with the line, for an extended moment, as the staffers around him react with disbelief, clearly uncomfortable. (Cosby has been accused of sexual impropriety by dozens of women, some of whom allege that they were drugged and raped by the comedian.)
As for an apology, Matthews told Malone that “I deeply regret it and I’m sorry” because there’s “no excuse” for the “terrible comment I made in poor taste during the height of the Bill Cosby headlines.”
Malone wrote about his past statements on Hillary Clinton, but she’s far from the first woman to have been ogled (see here). Somehow connecting this to the underlying claim that Matthews is sexist, Malone bizarrely cited questions his wife Kathleen faced about his liberal punditry during her failed 2016 Maryland Congressional campaign.
When Matthews returned on Monday from his Christmas and New Year’s holiday break, he did not address any of the stories put forth by Athey. The latest story was published by a devotedly liberal website, so perhaps this could change whether or not Matthews addresses his Hardball audience.
Be sure to stay with NewsBusters and we’ll be sure to provide any updates.
