With Hillary Clinton poised to be the first woman to be a major party nominee for president, some male pundits have been under fire for making remarks perceived as sexist. “Smile. You just had a big night,” Joe Scarborough tweeted at Hillary Clinton, igniting a wave of criticism. But now, one MSNBC host has gotten called out for comments about Melania Trump, the wife of the GOP candidate, Donald Trump.
During MSNBC’s coverage of Tuesday’s Indiana primaries, MSNBC’s “Hardball” host, Chris Matthews, was caught ogling Melania Trump’s “runway walk,” apparently unaware that his microphone was on.
“Did you see her walk?” said Matthews. “Runway walk. My God is that good. I could watch that runway show.”
He made the comments directly after Donald Trump’s post-win speech and while others on MSNBC discussed the results. Brian Williams quickly segued into a commercial. Variety blasted him as “sexist.” Some viewers noticed, too.
@hardball_chris Matthews creeping on @MELANIATRUMP saying he could watch her walk all day. #dirtyoldman #openmic pic.twitter.com/wQ29lWuVbV
— david lawson (@lumpy68) May 4, 2016
A spokesperson for Melania Trump sent the following statement to Fortune in response: “Melania Trump is an accomplished businesswoman and entrepreneur in her own right, achieving tremendous success in a variety of industries, including an illustrious modeling career, as well as being a dedicated wife and mother. It is unfortunate to see the continuous inaccuracies and misrepresentations made by the media of Mrs. Trump as anything less than the independently successful woman that she is.”
Neither MSNBC nor NBC responded to requests for comments before publication. This story will be updated if Fortune receives a comment.
Matthews has previously criticized Trump’s attitudes toward women and suggested that it would be difficult for him to win the general election. Back in March, Matthews said, “But I look at this thing, I look at the way he talks to people on television, and these words are pretty much not just un-PC, pretty much ancient the way he talks, if not caveman sometimes.”
As Variety noted, over the years, Matthews, 70, has been slammed for remarks he’s made about women.
In 2011, during the last presidential campaign, Matthews said that Sarah Palin, who was on the Republican ticket as its vice presidential candidate, was “very attractive” and said there was “something electric” about the way she moved, according to CNNMoney. In 2007 he compared Hillary Clinton to the manipulative antagonist Nurse Ratched from “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” And also that year, during a live business news segment on his show, he creepily asked Erin Burnett to “come in closer, really close” to the camera. Then he told her he was kidding and said, “You look great! It’s great to — look at that look!…You’re beautiful. I’m just kidding. I’m just kidding. You’re a knockout.”
