Last night I was shocked to learn that MSNBC has fired Keith Olbermann, their most popular host. I grieve his loss. He has been my favorite source of video for this blog. His Special Comments have crystalized issues in ways that others have failed to equal. Although we have never met, I consider him a friend. I’ve read lots of speculation as to what went down and why, but at this point, nobody knows. Lets look at what we do know and watch his farewell. Then please join me in signing a Bold Progressives petition to say thank you to Keith for the invaluable service he has rendered.
So Keith Olbermann is out. As best as I can tell, none of the news accounts about his departure have gotten to the bottom of what happened here. But Olbermann himself offered enough clues in his final broadcast for us to reasonably speculate that he abruptly got the ax, perhaps even as late as last night.
A "knowledgeable official" at MSNBC told Howard Kurtz that the separation was "mutual." But it’s hard to see how that squares with this, from Olbermann’s last words on Countdown last night:
"I think the same fantasy has popped into the head of everybody in my business who has ever been told what I have been told, that this is going to be the last edition of your show. You go directly to the scene from the movie ‘Network,’ complete with the pajamas, and the raincoat, and you go off on an existential, otherworldly journey of profundity and vision…
"When I resigned from ESPN 13 and a half years ago, I was literally given 30 seconds to say goodbye at the very end of my last edition of "Sports Center." As God is my witness, in the commercial break just before the emotional moment, the producer got into my earpiece and he said, `uh, can you cut it down to 15 seconds, so we can get in this tennis result from Stuttgart? So I’m grateful that I have a little more time to sign off here."
Between this and the shell-shocked look Olbermann had last night, it seems clear that he may have been abruptly informed that he was history, perhaps even during last night’s show… [emphasis original]
Inserted from <Washington Post>
“I have been told” makes it clear that he was not consulted in the decision. “A little more time” indicates that it was sudden. My own speculation is that the timing was related to Jeff Zucker’s last day yesterday. Zucker was President and CEO of NBC Universal. He was also Keith’s biggest supporter at NBC. Here is Keith’s farewell statement:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
And here is the link to the petition: Say Thank You to Keith Olbermann. I’m going to miss his voice!
15 Responses to “Action Alert: Say Thank You to Keith”
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I just learned about the Keith Olbermann thing at Cafe Philos, and it saddens me too that he’ll be departing. While I didn’t always agree with him, he had many good insights and served (along with Rachel Maddow) as a healthy counterbalance to the Fox News machine. He will be missed.
I wonder what he’ll be up to after MSNBC?
I have my Google News set to follow him.
His degree of integrity and selflessness matches that of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite. A wonderful voice for the people has been lost. GODDAM COMCAST!!
He was in Good Night and Good Luck, the movie about Murrow, and I think directed and/or produced it. That’s where his values are.
Jack, Ironically I projected that Comcast would be the end of Olbermann and Maddow, but I have no evidence to date that they were involved. Keith’s integrity had earned him plenty of corporate enemies at NBC, even before Comcast entered thge picture.
I wonder who Comcast will purge next.
Maddow, but see my reply to Jack and Charles.
This just makes me sick. Keith’s commentaries have often moved me, to tears, anger, glee. He’s articulate, smart, and funny. If this comes from the purchase of NBC by Comcast, I’ll be in a pickle. I’d have to change my cable company and my internet provider. Unfortunately, the cable comes with our space rent (in our old folks mfg home park). Maybe just internet.
I’ve heard speculation of Keith going to NPR and/or PBS. I’d favor that.
People who say they’ll not be watch MSNBC anymore are cutting Rachel’s, Ed’s, and Lawrence’s throats, so I hope they continue to watch the good (and only progressive) news/views while they’re still on.
Sad, sad, sad.
Marva, I’d love to see Keith surface at PBS.
I shall continue to support Rachel and Ed. I’m not sure about Lawrence. Since he got his own show, he has moved right.
When I saw this late last night I literally gasped. I loved his wit and intelligence more than anything. He’s one of a kind.
Lisa I agree. Often he had me wanting to laugh and cry at once.
Another push by the right to gain a complete stranglehold on the American MSM; they will not rest until real news, critical thinking and/or dissent is totally wiped out. Goddamn Nazi Germany is what we are becoming! 👿
Nikolai, the free flow of accurate news is the biggest threat there is to those who desire a totalitarian state. That’s why Republicans hate it so.
He was Banfielded!
In April 2003, in a speech at Kansas State University, Banfield raised concerns regarding media coverage of the conflict in Iraq. She also spoke against “cable news operators who wrap themselves in the American flag and go after a certain target demographic”, and specifically named Fox News Channel as an example.[3] The New York Times reported that her speech angered NBC management, who rebuked her and lowered her profile.[2]
I was office-less for ten months … No phone, no computer. For ten months I had to report to work every day and ask where I could sit. If somebody was away I could use their desk. Eventually, after ten months of this, I was given an office that was a tape closet. They cleared the tapes out and put a desk and a TV in there, and a computer and phone. It was pretty blatant. The message was crystal clear. Yet they wouldn’t let me leave. I begged for seventeen months to be let out of my contract. If they had no use for me, let’s just part ways amicably—no need for payouts, just a clean break. And [NBC News President Neal Shapiro] wouldn’t allow it. I don’t know what his rationale was—perhaps he thought I would take what I felt was a very strong brand, and others felt was a very strong brand, to another network and make a success of it. Maybe that’s why he chose to keep me in a warehouse. I will never forgive him for his cruelty and the manner in which he decided to dispose of me.
—in New Canaan-Darien Magazine, January 2009[4]
Same thing happened to Donahue.
Welcome, Bonzo. 🙂
I agree completely that he was forced out by conservative corporate elements. We just lack the details.