According to NBC insiders, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann may have worn out his welcome with network bigwigs. What took them so long?
Capitol Hill Blue reports the incident that caused this man-made human resources disaster:
Olbermann, who fancies himself as a cross between news legend Edward R. Murrow and Howard Beale, the mad prophet newsman of the black comedy movie “Network,” went after former MSNBC general manager Dan Abrams Wednesday night, claiming Abrams had been fired and had a grudge against the network.
The tirade left NBC executives red-faced because Abrams, a lawyer, is still employed by NBC as a news analyst on legal issues.
Olbermann castigated Abrams in a new segment of his show “The Countdown Hall of Shame,” which replaced the tired “Worst Persons in the World Segment” that had turned into a nightly tirade against Fox News personalities Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck.
Obermann named the media website Mediaite — founded by Abrams — as runner up in the Hall of Shame Category because it reported on the Tea Party calling Obermann out for his claim that the grassroots movement lacked diversity when MSNBC anchors are mostly whitebread.
Said Olbermann:
Perhaps the reason that Mediaite took a Tea Party’s word for it is that this is the same site of a fired MSNBC employee. And in his attempt to implant his bitterness toward this place, to plug or weave it into his website, he has wigged out. He would like us to sweep his failure under the rug as if it were a bald-faced lie, or there will be hell to pay.
It appears that NBC execs have never actually watched Olbermann’s show. If they had, they would simply shrug this off knowing full well that being 180 degrees away from the truth is pretty common on their network from 9-10 pm EST.
A much more likely reason for the state of unease among NBC execs might be Olbermanns rapidly dwindling audience, which now routinely numbers under 1,000,000 viewers per night.
After all, network executives aren’t offended by liars. But they are highly offended by liars with small audiences.
Source: CapitolHillBlue.com
This post was last modified on March 1, 2010
View Comments (7)
He should be taken away and put in a mental institution as soon as possible.Take o'donnell,Shuster,Schultz,Matthews,and Maddow with him.
has anyone ever seen that guy on msnbc named ratigan?
silly question, since nobody watches msnbc.....but i just saw some clips. he is a real JAGOFF
Yeah, I have heard of him & watched him for a bit. That guy is a dumb SOB. He will join the ever growing list of failures on BSNBC, he can't go away soon enough for me.
Keith Olbermann's act is sooooo tired that it's about to replace Ambien as the drug of choice.
This angry pathetic sportscaster needs to go back to commenting on someones' jump shot or long touchdown run.
He knows nothing about reality and I do believe that the parallel universe he resides in is also thinking about jettisoning this angry boring raging lunatic.
Please, let's just not waste anyones' time listening to this carnival barker anymore....there are so many other worthy voices to listen to who really know the score...
Actually, what we are seeing with Keith "BathTubBoy" Olbermann is the total meltdown of a someone on live television. His entire world is crumbling around him. His mother died last year, his father has been in very poor health, & now he's using him as a prop to push for the Obama-care he supports. So his dad is dying, & I have heard he split with his girlfriend(who works at the GE owned Weather Channel, I wonder who got her the gig?)Katy Tur, but I have not seen that confirmed anyplace. Obly also has burned almost every bridge during his life, so he does'nt have many friends left in the buisiness, so he is holding onto what little he has right now. If he were to get the sack at GE/Comcast/MSNBC, he would really be a lost soul...providing he did'nt sell it already.
Olbermann has the "Midas Touch!" Everything he touches turns into mufflers. His stint on L.A. local news and sports failed, then he moved onto Fox Sports, where he got canned, then ESPN "Sports Center," yep, canned, MSNBC picked him up, has paid for it ever since. His voice can be heard on certain NBC Football telecasts, as well as his "Hit Show" Countdown. Olbermanns "smart ass" voice and opinions turn normal people off. Of course, Maddow, Matthews, O'Donnell, Schultz and Schuster are not too far behind. Their biggest fans are Zsa's HuffingtonPost, Daily Kos and Firedoglake. They all deserve each other.
If Mr. Olbermann leaves the air slightly less than 15,000 people are going to be quite upset.