“Why would he lie?”
When Warren joined Matthews live after the debate, he directed the conversation toward Warren’s comments about Bloomberg’s alleged discrimination and essentially asked her the same question over and over. He let her answer only to then ask it again in different words: “Do you believe that the former mayor of New York said that to a pregnant employee?”; “You believe he’s that kind of person who did that?”; “You believe he’s lying?”; “You’re confident of your accusation?”
Matthews’ shock, coming more than two years after the beginning of a supposed national reckoning for men’s understanding of the sexism women face in their daily lives, was something to behold—it played as if he had never before considered not automatically believing a man he considers respectable over a woman with less power. One women’s advocacy group is already calling for Matthews to be fired for his behavior and comments in the clip. (It also bears mentioning, as activist and congressional candidate Brianna Wu pointed out, that Matthews is not without a dog in this particular fight: In 2017, NBC paid a settlement to a producer who accused him of sexual harassment.)
