NBC-Universal confirms payoff to another famous on-air host over sexual harassment complaint

At the rate that complaints are coming in, the number of prominent progressives accused of sexual harassment will top 100 before Christmas. It is almost as if karma has it in for all the hypocrisy about the purported GOP “war on women” that has come from the left. AT has been chronicling the tide of accusations against progs, and of last Thursday, the total had leaped from 71 to 90 in only a week’s time. And this week has quite a prominent name to add.

Amber Athey in The Daily Caller: An MSNBC spokesman confirmed Saturday the company made a separation-related payment to one of Chris Matthews employees after the woman complained about sexual harassment. Two sources familiar with the situation told The Daily Caller that Matthews paid $40,000 to settle with an assistant producer on his show, “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” in 1999 after she accused him of harassment. An MSNBC spokesperson contested that claim to the Caller, saying the company instead paid significantly less as part of a severance package. The woman complained to CNBC executives about Matthews making inappropriate comments and jokes about her while in the company of others. “Inappropriate comments and jokes” should not be on the same spectrum as rape, but the current hysteria conflates anything that some woman didn’t like with the most vile of sex crimes. But, in the current hysteria, it "counts," and so it will go on our growing list. Given the loose standards for what counts, and the need for nothing more than an accusation, it seems inevitable that sooner or later, every male who appears in the media will be accused of sexual harassment. And with companies preferring a quiet payoff to legal bills and a public humiliation, some of their employers will have endorsed the complaints with a payoff.