MSNBC’s Chris Matthews confuses South Carolina Democratic Senate candidate with GOP’s Tim Scott

While on air during a Trump rally in South Carolina, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews confused South Carolina Democratic senate candidate Jaime Harrison with Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), both of whom are black.  

“I see you standing there next to the guy you’re going to beat maybe,” Matthews said to Harrison, while the camera was on a frame of Scott and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). 

Matthews, the host of “Hardball,” was immediately corrected by other anchors before realizing he had mixed up the two South Carolina politicians. 

Yikes! MSNBC’s Chris Matthews confuses SC Dem Senate candidate Jaime Harrison with current SC GOP Senator Tim Scott. pic.twitter.com/m8G3DFna3D

— Rich Noyes (@RichNoyes) February 29, 2020

“Big mistake, mistaken identity, sorry,” Matthews said. 

Matthews has stirred controversy in recent weeks leading to several calls for his resignation or firing from the network. 

After the South Carolina debate, Matthews pressed Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on why she believed a woman who had accused former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg of pressuring her to have an abortion while she was an employee for his company.

Earlier this month, Matthews likened Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) decisive win in the Nevada caucuses to the Nazi invasion of France in 1940, drawing immense criticism from those who noted Sanders is Jewish and many of his family members were killed in the Holocaust.