Executives at Comcast, one of the nation’s top media companies, are urging employees in its news division to be more respectful of opposing viewpoints after it fired an MSNBC contributor for comments he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“Our hearts are heavy, as his passing leaves a grieving family and a country grappling with division,” Comcast leadership, including chair Brian Roberts, wrote to employees about Kirk on Friday. “There is no place for violence or hate in our society.”
“You may have seen that MSNBC recently ended its association with a contributor who made an unacceptable and insensitive comment about this horrific event,” the company’s leadership continued. “That coverage was at odds with fostering civil dialogue and being willing to listen to the points of view of those who have differing opinions.”
They added, “We should be able to disagree, robustly and passionately, but, ultimately, with respect. We need to do better.”
Roberts and his team were referencing comments made by Matthew Dowd, a former political operative and paid pundit for the cable channel who minutes after Kirk was shot and killed in Utah on Wednesday called him “one of the more divisive figures in this.”
“He was constantly pushing this sort of hate speech aimed at certain groups,” Dowd said during the segment anchored by journalist Katy Tur. “And I always go back to: Hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions. … You can’t say these awful words and not expect awful actions to take place.”
MSNBC later on Wednesday cut ties with Dowd, who issued an apology on the social media site Bluesky writing he in “no way intended for my comments to blame Kirk for this horrendous attack. Let us all come together and condemn violence of any kind.”
Kirk’s assassination has sparked widespread debate about both his political views and the temperature of the national political conversation more generally.
“Regardless of whether you agreed with his political views, his words and actions underscore the urgency to maintain a respectful exchange of ideas — a principle we must champion,” the Comcast leadership wrote to its employees.
“Something essential has fractured in our public discourse, and as a company that values the power of information, we have a responsibility to help mend it,” they added.
The request also comes after at least two universities removed employees from their positions in response to comments they made online about Kirk.
