Feminists Unite to Combat Chris Matthews' Sexism
January 17, 2008Media
UPDATE: Chris Matthews has issued an apology for his sexist attacks on Hillary Clinton.
Note to Chris Matthews: Any desperate hope you may have had that this whole ugly sexism business would just blow over -- well, just give it up now. Because it's not going away. And if a lot of really angry and powerful women have their way, it won't go away until you do.
The presidents of Feminist Majority, NOW, The National Women's Political Caucus, and the Women's Media Center have teamed up to send a rather pointed letter to NBC president Steve Capus (the same guy, it turns out, who canned Imus just last April on similar grounds -- he's probably having deja vu all over again right now), which lays out the case that Matthews deserves nothing much more than the right to keep Imus company on the too-neanderthal-for-prime-time bench:
Note to Chris Matthews: Any desperate hope you may have had that this whole ugly sexism business would just blow over -- well, just give it up now. Because it's not going away. And if a lot of really angry and powerful women have their way, it won't go away until you do.
The presidents of Feminist Majority, NOW, The National Women's Political Caucus, and the Women's Media Center have teamed up to send a rather pointed letter to NBC president Steve Capus (the same guy, it turns out, who canned Imus just last April on similar grounds -- he's probably having deja vu all over again right now), which lays out the case that Matthews deserves nothing much more than the right to keep Imus company on the too-neanderthal-for-prime-time bench:
Dear Mr. Capus:
During the controversy surrounding Don Imus' racist and sexist remarks this past spring, you acknowledged that, with Imus, "there have been any number of other comments that have been enormously hurtful to far too many people. And my feeling is that ... there should not be a place for that on MSNBC. This is about trust. It's about reputation. It's about doing what's right."
We commend your acknowlegement that NBC has a responsibility to demand appropriate conduct and dialogue in its programming. That is why we are writing to you concerning comments made by Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's Hardball, that demonstrate a larger pattern of overt sexism when discussing women.
During an appearance on the January 9 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, Matthews said of Senator Hillary Clinton, "the reason she may be a front-runner is her husband messed around" and that "[s]he didn't win there [New York] on her merits." Matthews has referred to Clinton as a "she devil," compared her to a "strip-teaser" and called her "witchy." He has referred to men who support her as "castratos in the eunuch chorus." He has suggested Clinton is not "a convincing mom" and said "modern women" like Clinton are unacceptable to "Midwest guys."
