India, Sept. 11 -- MSNBC's Matthew Dowd and Katy Tur were blaming Charlie Kirk's "hateful speech" for his assassination, sparking fierce backlash, which ultimately led to MSNBC cutting ties with Dowd.

Kirk, 31, co-founder of Turning Point USA and a prominent presence on college campuses, was shot during a Wednesday event at Utah Valley University.

Breaking the news on air, host Katy Tur described Kirk as "divisive" and "polarizing."

Then, political analyst Matthew Dowd went further. He told viewers, "We don't any of the details of this yet, we don't know if this was a supporter shooting their guns off in celebration."

Dowd also claimed that Kirk was "constantly pushing hate speech, sort of aimed at certain groups." He continued: "You ...