The GQ columnist who accused Chris Matthews of inappropriate sexual conduct has a message for HBO’s Bill Maher, who has been defending the now-disgraced MSNBC host: “F*ck you.”
During HBO’s “Real Time” on Friday night, Maher ripped the “cancel culture,” defending Matthews, who suddenly “retired” last week after more than 23 years at the network.
“MSNBC used to run this thing: this is who we are. Well, I didn’t like who you were this week, and I don’t think a lot of people who work there liked this either, and I think this ‘cancel culture’ is a cancer on progressivism,” Maher said. “Liberals always have to fight a two-front war. Republicans only have to fight the Democrats; Democrats have to fight the Republicans, and each other.”
Maher’s remarks came after GQ’s Laura Bassett accused Matthews of making inappropriate comments several times when she appeared on the network.
In her GQ piece headlined, “Like Warren, I Had My Own Sexist Run-In with Chris Matthews,” Bassett claimed Matthews had used sexist language several times when she appeared on his show as a guest. Basset wrote that Matthews had sexually harassed her in 2016, saying, “Why haven’t I fallen in love with you yet?” while she was getting her makeup done for an appearance.
The number of on-air incidents is long, exhausting, and creepy, including commenting to Erin Burnett, for example, “You’re a knockout… it’s all right getting bad news from you,” while telling her to move closer to the camera. Behind the scenes, one of Matthews’s former producers told The Daily Caller in 2017 that he allegedly rated his female guests on a numerical scale and would name a “hottest of the week,” like a “teenage boy.” In 1999, an assistant producer accused Matthews of sexual harassment, which CNBC, the show’s network at the time, investigated. They concluded that the comments were “inappropriate,” and Matthews received a “stern reprimand,” according to an MSNBC spokesperson.This tendency to objectify women in his orbit has bled into his treatment of female politicians and candidates. He has repeatedly lusted over women in politics on air, including remarking in 2011 that there’s “something electric” and “very attractive” about the way former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin walks and moves, and noting in 2017 that acting attorney general Sally Yates is “attractive, obviously.” But he has reserved a particular contempt for the woman who made it closest to ascending the heights of American political power, Hillary Clinton, calling her “witchy,” “anti-male,” and “She-Devil.”
Maher said on his show that some things Matthews allegedly said to Bassett were “creepy,” but said she wasn’t brave to come forward.
“He said to somebody, Laura Bassett, four years ago, she’s in makeup, he said, ‘Why haven’t I fallen in love with you yet?’ Yes, it is creepy. She said, ‘I was afraid to name him at the time out of fear of retaliation. I’m not afraid anymore.’ Thank you, Rosa Parks. I mean, Jesus f*cking Christ! I guess my question is: Do you wonder how Democrats lose?” Maher said.
A guest on Maher’s show, The Atlantic’s Caitlin Flanagan, followed, saying, “How fragile can one woman be?”
But Bassett is no shrinking violet. She fired back on Twitter, nailing Maher and Matthews.
“Hey @billmaher how’s this for fragile: F[*]ck you,” she wrote in one tweet.
In another, she said: “People are really outraged that a rich as hell 74-yr-old man had to retire after being called out for 20 years of objectifying women in the workplace? This is not about me, and if your inclination is to attack me, consider putting that energy into therapy or anger management.”
Ya’ burnt!
‘F*ck You’: Chris Matthews Accuser Blasts Bill Maher For Defending Disgraced MSNBC Host
Reviewed by CUZZ BLUE
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March 11, 2020
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