Chris Matthews announced his retirement from MSNBC Monday night after more than two decades at the network.

The MSNBC mainstay made the stunning at the start of Monday’s night edition of Hardball, a show that has for years been a staple of the network’s politics programming. It also became a headache for MSNBC brass in recent weeks as Matthews came under fire for his often out-of-touch commentary.

“Let me start with my headline tonight,” Matthews said. “I’m retiring. This is the last Hardball on MSNBC.”

After a commercial break Matthews had left the Hardball set, with a stunned Steve Kornacki hosting the show in his stead.

Critics called on Matthews to resign or be fired after he compared Bernie Sanders’ recent victory in the Nevada caucuses to the Nazi defeat of the French during World War II. The comment prompted private complaints to MSNBC from senior Sanders staffers and a rare on-air apology from Matthews himself.

That apology did little to stanch the criticism, as calls for his firing were renewed after a combative interview with Elizabeth Warren was decried as sexist. The interview prompted journalist Laura Bassett, a frequent MSNBC guest, to allege in an op-ed that Matthews made sexist and belittling comments to her off the air.

Matthews, who is retiring from the network at 73, was left out of MSNBC’s coverage of the South Carolina primary on Saturday.

“After conversations with MSNBC I decided tonight would be my last Hardball, so let me tell you why,” Matthews said. “The younger generations out there are ready to take the reins. You see them in politics, in the media, in fighting for the causes.”

“A lot of them have to do with how we talk to each other,” he continued. “Compliments on a woman’s appearance that some men, included me, might have once incorrectly thought were okay, were never okay. Not then and certainly not today, and for making such comments in the past I’m sorry.”

Watch above, via MSNBC.

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