Names and faces
■ Chris Matthews, the veteran political anchor and voluble host of the long-running MSNBC talk show Hardball, resigned Monday night, an abrupt departure from a television perch that made him a fixture of politics and the news media over the past quarter-century. Matthews, 74, had faced mounting criticism in recent days over a spate of embarrassing on-air moments, including a comparison of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign to the Nazi invasion of France and an interview with Sen. Elizabeth Warren in which the anchor was criticized for a condescending and disbelieving tone. On Saturday, journalist Laura Bassett published an essay accusing Matthews of making multiple inappropriate comments about her appearance, reviving long-standing allegations about the anchor’s sexist behavior. Matthews, with his family, walked onto the
Hardball set inside NBC’s Washington bureau shortly before 7 p.m. to give a brief farewell. “I’m retiring,” Matthews told viewers in a solemn and brief monologue as his broadcast began at 7. “This is the last Hardball on MSNBC.” On air, Matthews made clear that the timing of his exit was not entirely his choosing, going on to apologize for his past insensitive comments. “Compliments on a woman’s appearance that some men, including me, might have once incorrectly thought were OK are never OK,” he said. “Not then, and certainly not today.”
Irish architects Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara have been awarded the 2020 Pritzker Architecture Prize for “consistent service to humanity as evidenced by a body of built work,” and for leading the way for women in a male-dominated profession. The announcement was made Tuesday by Tom Pritzker, chairman of The Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the award, considered the highest honor in architecture. The Pritzker prize, established in 1979, is typically awarded not to a firm but to an individual architect; when more than one individual is selected, it’s because the jury deems their work to be inextricably linked. McNamara and Farrell have collaborated on many projects in their home country, but also have won commissions in locales such as Peru, Italy and France. From Dublin, Farrell and McNamara described how they began their collaboration as early as 1969, when they met as students.