Chris Matthews speaks for the first time since retiring, reiterates his sexual harassment was wrong

Vanity Fair

It's been nearly two months since Matthews abruptly retired from his MSNBC show on March 2, three days after journalist Laura Bassett recalled a backstage sexually harassing encounter with the then-Hardball host. In a new interview with Vanity Fair, Matthews acknowledged his wrongdoing. “I didn’t argue about it, I didn’t deny it,” says Matthews. “I accepted the credibility of the complaint in the article. I didn’t want to challenge the person that made the complaint and wrote the article. I thought it was very credible and certainly within the person’s rights to write that article, of course. That was highly justified. Basically, as I said, to repeat myself, it’s inappropriate in the workplace to compliment somebody on their appearance, this is in the makeup chair, and I did it.”