While we don’t usually cover purely media figures, there are the occasional people that are pop-culture phenoms all on their own. Such is the case of Keith Olbermann – not only a media fixture and a pop culture figure, but now it seems Keith just found himself in one of the bigger public breakups of the past few years. Last night, Olbermann announced that effective immediately, he was leaving MSNBC. Olbermann’s Countdown is the highest-rated show on MSNBC, and KO gets credit (and has taken credit) for reshaping the news network. KO still had two years left on a four-year contract, and most say that he’s still going to get paid $7 million a year for the next two years. $14 million for nothing! For sitting on his ass in his pajamas for two years. So it wasn’t about money, it wasn’t about ratings… what was it about? Because it’s looking more and more like Olbermann didn’t jump, but was pushed.
Gawker theorizes that Olbermann and his corporate overlords at NBC Universal were bitching at each other for months, and Comcast’s soon-to-be buyout of NBC was a factor… according to business gossip (often juicier than celebrity gossip), Comcast isn’t a fan. Comcast’s lackey sent out this missive this morning, though: “Comcast has not closed the transaction for NBC Universal and has no operational control at any of its properties, including MSNBC. We pledged from the day the deal was announced that we would not interfere with NBC Universal’s news operations. We have not & we will not.”
So with Concast denying their involvement, the question keeps coming back to why KO was fired? Was it because he’s such a dick? Seriously, I agree with many of KO’s political views, but not his methods and not his personal attacks and unyielding arrogance. That’s why I stopped watching his show – KO is an exhausting bastard. Could it be that KO just shot himself in the foot by being such a jag?
Also up in the air – what happens to the 8 pm timeslot. According to HuffPo’s sources, Rachel Maddow is still in everybody’s good graces, and she will most likely stay on at 9 pm. Laurence O’Donnell is going to be taking over at 8 pm for now – he’s nicer than Keith, but still rather “meh”. I’d like to see the Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson, or The Nation’s Christopher Hayes. Both are great interviewers, both have strong “likability” factors and both are smart as whips.
Here’s Olbermann’s final statement:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I am glad he is gone I am really close to him ideologically but he is a blowhard and acting like O’Rielly, and Beck hasn’t endeared him to me. I wish they’d give Amy Goodman the time slot but that’s so not happening.
What some see as a ‘Jag’ others see as talented maybe brilliant. Many have their excentricities, but when Keith saw an injustice, he was out front on it.
I am so tired of the conservatives getting away with saying and doing anything they please with NO consequences.
I am through with MSNBC and Comcast, wont make a difference but ill feel better.
olbermann was the only newsreader providing an outlet for a reasonably progressive political outlook.
and he is one of a few who takes the rule of law seriously and nightly exposed the lies, duplicity, and malicious policies that are ushering in the permanent decline of this country.
too friggin bad that his method of delivery upsets peoples’ delicate condition.
Oh no! Keith Olbermann caused the only time I ever called my cable provider and ordered a station, and never regretted it either — till today. This is terrible news. I hope he quickly finds another berth somewhere else.
I can’t stand Lawrence O’Donnell; he is no replacement — he is a smug Beltway common-wisdom doof. (Have you seen the ludicrous segment when he had Glenn Greenwald on, then to bolster his own liberal credentials – despite his reactionary political views – played a decade-old clip he wrote on the West Wing. I cringed so hard I almost broke something.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMRf1mpcHeI
I will be accepting Chris Hayes at 8pm and no one else. But still missing Keith. This makes this a very sucky day… and week… etc.
There’s a good write-up of what happened here:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2011/01/keith_olbermanns_ouster.html
I hope the ComCast deal gets scuppered by Congress.
His politics aside, I never got into KO. I think he’s educated, articulate, and well informed but he came across as condescending and pontificating (Walter Cronkite flashing his Goopy poncho covered cooter, as it were). That being said, his huge base of support will no doubt decry the splits-ville.
Some people who are hard to get along with make it worth the effort by offering something special no-one else was either able or willing to offer. Mr. Olbermann was such a person. I have no doubt MSNBC (or whoever) will regret this decision when he goes to work somewhere else and his audience goes with him. I await the announcement from his next employer.
I am anxiously awaiting the news of who will be picking Keith up. I will follow him wherever he goes!!! I loved him at MSNBC, and will love him at his next post. In the interim, put Lawerence O’Donnell in the 8pm spot.
I’m with you on everything. Love him and think he’s a dickwad all at the same time.
I wish they’d pick up Fahreed Zakariah (I’m sure I misspelt; apologies) from CNN.
Like Bill O’Rielly and Glenn Beck, are you loon? They’re propagandist, their job is to lie and deceive the public. Just because Kieth is loud Doesn’t make him anything like him. Not seeing the difference makes me doubt the motives of your post.
All those nice guys are not going to get anyone to vote, Kieth’s high energy will and did. Kieth got the “educated left” to get up and fight back, Beck and O’Rielly motivate the uneducated right to get up and screw them selves, and the rest of us.
Has anyone asked exactly why right wing Comcast wants buy the only large network that the right hates? Usually, the most obvious answer is the right answer.
Never watched his show and really don’t know much about him. But hey! 14 million for free! Must be nice!
Very sorry to see Keith go. He was not afraid to speak his mind, although I can see where some may consider him a bit condescending. Still, he spoke for me.
You can have Lawrence O’Donnell. What a smug insider SOB. Look at me, I was chief council to the Senate Budget Committee when Pat Moynihan was running it. I know better than you; we’re gonna cut your Social Security and you’re gonna like it!! Oh, and when I wrote for the West Wing….. Rant over.
Should be interesting how long Cenk Uygur will last a 6PM. Now, there’s someone who calls it as he sees it.
And, wow, no comparison between Keith and those morons on Fox. Agree completely Mikek.
This is truly a loss for freedom of information in America. Welcome to Big Brother, unrestrained. I first heard KO when he blasted the bush administrations absolute lack of meaningful response of any kind after hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. I have been a fan ever since, he has valid points that NEED to be heard in a massively right wing biased news monopoly. Truly, the death knoll of democracy in America and the absolute control of the Corporacracy that has replaced it. “Good night, and good luck” indeed.
I can’t say I like the way you framed your commentary–but it’s your site. I doubt KO will ever sit around on his butt in his pajamas. He has always been extremely active politically, philosophically, pop-culturally and professionally. As for people who sit around on their asses all day … well, one could say the same for a number of today’s high-paying professions. Olbermann was in a contract and no one knows exactly who/how it was broken. Surely the historically right-leaning and little-guy gobbling Comcast has something to do with it. If they aren’t “fans” of KO, the highest rating commentator on MSNBC, then one might speculate what their agenda is in buying out the station. Surely not profit, since that was happening. We should ALL be very concerned when this is the fallout from a media outlet buyout. It surprises me how so few people seem to take notice of the way a very few sources now control our information flow. Mike K and others above got it right.
On a separate note, I don’t think there is anything not to like about Olbermann. He has incredible integrity, conviction, intelligence, and compassion. It’s interesting how there is tolerance, actually reverence, for someone as moronic as Sarah Palin, but get a compassionate, thoughtful commentator who isn’t afraid to utilize a little vocabulary and social theory reference and he’s “condescending” and “pontificating.” He was being paid to pontificate. I admire and enjoy the guy.
Agree bluhare Fareed Zakariah (sic) would be excellent but he’s too intellectual and thoughtful for these 30 second shoutfests. Please, Mikek, give me a break there are as many pompous uneducated illiterate slogan spouting leftists in this country as those on the right. Take your political blinders off – the notion that everyone on the lib/left is a ruminative Oxford scholar and everyone on the right is a hick doofus is silly; Yah, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are polymaths; right in what universe do you live? I agree with the intellectual George Steiner on the fatuity of tv talk in general – since the average segment lasts 60 – 120 seconds such brevity precludes intellection.
Has anyone found out yet if that Comcast lackey’s pants are on fire?
Of course they want KO gone. I mean, I don’t like his style either, but someone needs to be a strong voice against Faux News, Murdoch and their ilk.
I’m quietly hoping the Coulson/News of the World phone hacking scandal in the UK will have some sort of fallout that will cost Murdoch more than just tons of money to make it go away. And I hope (probably in vain) that more people will see how Murdoch and his Evil Empire go about getting their “news”.
@mln77 – i totally agree. i think he is brilliant but some of his delivery was toxic, like “worst person”. i did enjoy his “public comments” on health care when his father was in the hospital.
i hope he surfaces in other media as a better voice.
I stopped watching him in 2008. His insane political attacks against women were a massive turnoff. Also, his shtick just got really old. TMZ says he was fired becuz comcast didn’t want him, but you can’t really trust TMZ.
Good post Kaiser!
Too many short or missing memories out there. KO may have been a blowhard at times, but he had an exceptionally sharp sense of irony — often directed at himself — and it may have been that ironic edge that finally did him in. You have to keep it simple for the simpletons who always equate confidence with arrogance(and have no sense of irony). Get pissed, folks, before it’s too late. The Roberts family/Comcast are making us all look like asses.
I liked watching him to see how the left would spin a particular topic. But I could never watch long. He always left me feeling like I needed to shower after watching. I think anyone who could stomach him on a regular basis, is terribly sick.
I couldn’t give two sh*ts about NBC or Comcast. Wherever Olbermann goes, that’s where this viewer will be.
#1 Min,to put him in the same category as O’Reilly or Beck is totally stupid. Keith had more compassion and empathy in his little finger than the two of them put together. He “held their feet to the fire” concerning wrong doings and illegal acts by government officials and the Right Wing. He is in the top of the most intelligent people at MSNBC and he will be missed. A sad day for the people of America – they have lost a great defender of freedom.
Love him, he’s brilliant. This is sad.
thank goodness. maybe ill start watching msnbc again. good riddance, olbermann!
“I agree with many of KO’s political views, but not his methods and not his personal attacks and unyielding arrogance. That’s why I stopped watching his show”
I would describe myself as very left oriented, but that is exactly why I stopped watching him long ago.
I prefer to get my news from different news sources online and make my own opinion without bitter enraged melodrama.
Why is it that conservatives are all getting lumped in together as ignorant, uneducated, and as general nut-bags? I’m considered a “conservative”, but I believe in gay marriage and not allowing religion to interfere with governmental decisions and a few other “liberal” philosophies… and I am NOT the only one. However, I do not cosign with every single goddamn thing the media wants to feed me, as it seems you are doing. I read the issues and decide for myself, perhaps you guys should start doing the same. You might be surprised. I am not Sean Hannity or Glenn Beck. Just as I know that you’re not Whoopie Goldberg or Joy Behar.
This is not directed to most of the comments, just the ones that specifically mention that the conservatives are to blame for everything that ever happens.
Liked that he was objective…not pushing a personal agenda. Imo…it’s MSNBC’s loss. Look forward to watching him again wherever he turns up.
This concerns me that Comcast is eliminating one of the few progressive voices in the media. Faux news (I borrowed that from another commenter) seems to be getting bigger and stronger. I hope Comcast does not try to muzzle Rachel Maddow too.
Good. I’m a Democrat and I still find him to be a blowhard. Couldn’t stand him.
Min76, nobody could even get close to acting like Glenn Beck. What a mental case he is.
I’m sure his two viewers are all broken up about it.
i think comcast’s stink is all over this one. dont want to see lawrence odennell’s milquetoast or Zakaria’s neoliberal jibber jabber or his velocoraptor grill.
I wish they’d give Jon stewart a whole hour and a big blowhorn like an hour slot on msnbc! he’s way smarter and a better interviewer than all of them. Id also like to see another woman. i hate that fox has more women in their line up with hour shows of spewing hate and venom and the left basically has maddow. there are plenty of them that would be great.
He’s been mentally on the edge for a while and has been going around attacking former employees and current hosts/commentators. The things I’ve heard from friends of mine in New York would probably not shock you but are disgusting and it’s becoming common knowledge.
Equating KO with Beck, et al is ridiculous. Keith was motivated by finding and broadcasting the truth; the others by their own self-serving paranoia. I an a 76-year-old suburban housewife and I loved his humor. A lot of people in this world are too prissy.
This a sad day for us Keith Fans. I will boycott Msnbc Until KO returns
This is a sad day for the true fans of KO. I will boycott MSNBC until he returns.
I’m a Democrat, but could never watch for more than a few minutes. So much hate and anger drags you down. Very unhappy man.
OMG!What will we do without Keith’s journalistic expertise, his keen insight, and fair and balanced nature? Will MSNBC survive? Whoops, I forgot, he (they) have no ratings!
Adi-frigging-o’s Olbermann! Hope the “internet” works for you buddy.
I put him in the same category as the Fox a-holes because he apes their tactics for ratings to the detriment of actually spreading facts out and educating people with what was a vast platform. He may have some correct information but his rhetoric actually prevents those who aren’t on his side from actually hearing it. I happen to think the best weapon against misinformed bullies is calm, well informed and strident people with facts. Which is why my favorite podcast is Democracy Now. I am appalled at some of the things going on in this country but I don’t think talking about worst person etc will help do anything but start tit for tat wars like the one he had with O’Reilly. I am not condoning him getting pushed off of MSNBC by Comcast AT ALL just saying I won’t miss him.
KO was clearly the best voice for selling the conservative agenda. He was an open display of how ugly the face of pomp and arrogance truly is. I have no doubt that his is well educated and intelligent. He proves that there is no automatic correlation between IQ and common practical sense. He is said to represent the “progressive” agenda. What is progressive about duplicating political policies modeled after consistently failed European models?
Good luck “finding Olberdork at his new network.” No one wants him. The man is toxic and only the most die hard liberal found him “informative”. CNN has already declined. ESPN has already declined. (again) FOX sports won’t touch him. It is one thing to be ideological in your views, it is quite another to alienate viewers with your crude, personal attacks. Given that our tax dollars are going to support the NBC/G.E. conglomerate, I’m beyond happy to see the back of this turd.
I understand that Mr. Olberman didn’t realize that he violated his contract when he donated to democratic candidates. I guess, like the Healthcare Bill, he didn’t bother to read his contract. He will probably find a way to blame Fox News and Palin for his firing. I hope “Mister Ed” will be the next to be shown the door.
He is the rush limbaugh of liberals and champagne socialist idealism. can’t stand it as I’m a moderate with my head stuck closer to reality than the clouds.
thank you Ed! couldn’t have said it better myself
I was a fan of Olbermann when he was on ESPN with Dan Patrick. I hear rumors that he might hook up with Patrick again on something sports-related. That would be wonderful. Those two were a big part of creating the bohemoth that is now ESPN.
I don’t agree with Olbermann’s politics, but I watched him all during the 2008 primary season because his venom for Hillary Clinton made for the most entertaining television I’ve ever seen. God he hated everything about her and her campaign.
Pleeze. No Comcast involvement.
The nutter demanded more money. MSNBC said no and Keith walked.
He was a liberal voice amongst a whole lot of yelling whacko right wingnuts. We needed him! Bring him back. What he says is true.
I love Keith. I’ll really miss him.
I’m sure Comcast is going to change things radically on that channel (I only liked and watched Keith’s show). Seems pretty stupid to dump your most popular personality.
I read that Comcast wanted him gone because he can’t be controlled. Personally, I don’t want to live in a country where journalists are ‘controlled’. Sounds like right wingnuts over there now, so Rachel better watch her back. So much for the ‘liberal media’ as well as the free press. Neither exist in the US anymore thanks to corporate media buyouts. It will be interesting to watch MSNBC now and see what direction they take after the takeover.
The top rated show on any cable network does not get axed during a pending sale unless the buyer has made that a condition of purchase. If not the buyer would easily have the right to renegotiate the price down because of the loss of the value of the program. The slime balls at Comcast are showing us their hand early, MSNBC soon to be Fox News Lite! The NBC Nightly News with your host Sarah Palin! NBC and MSNBC have just lost a viewer. It was all I could do to stomach that inexperienced Russert kid running around Capitol Hill because his daddy was a journalist. Rachel Maddow and Ed Shultz those Comcast righties are gonna clean house!
you all should do as I have done-get rid of your t.v. (:
our family has been sans the box for 3 yrs now…and don’t miss it at all…
we watch movies on our computer with some speakers set up, and obv. get any news or clips of news from the internet. It’s perfect-you could even watch KO… [i too signed off of his schtick when it became clear that toxic venom was his mode of delivery-got old for me….even tho’ he is for sure extremely well spoken….
so, yea, my 10 yr old doesn’t miss t.v. either. he always thinks it’s funny when a friend gets grounded from t.v for this or that-he tells them ‘oh that’s no big deal’….
No t.v.=problem solved regarding media bias.(:
Keith Olbermann’s show was far more negative and venomous than just about anything on television. Comparisons between Olbermann and O’Reilley are simply unfounded. All you have to do is compare the final segments of both shows to see the difference between the two. O’Reilley ends his show with “Pinheads and Patriots” and Olbermann ends his with the “Worst Person in the World.” As you can tell, O’Reilley’s is more humorous and less serious, but it makes a point. Many on the left wing of politics have had great results after an O’Reilley interview such as Hillary Clinton. Olbermann never had an interview with someone on the right wing of politics that was lauded for its fairness. Clinton’s team wished they had done O’Reilley’s show sooner than they did because it was such a great interview. Same thing with Rush. His humor is much more satirical and I never really interpreted it as negative and uncivil. Much of it is funny and that is why it gets such high ratings. In any event, television opinion is terrific, but none of it touches the written editorials in the Wall St. Journal or the Washington Times. If you want great opinion pieces those are my suggestions. Olbermann was simply too negative….
He’s become an unwatchable, massive douche. And his head.. wtf happened? C*ke bloat? Gross
Those who’ll miss Keith – try watching the Ed Show at 6pm est. His views are a bit different than Keith’s but he’s equally unafraid to say things. My favourites are his nicknames:
Rush Limbaugh = Drugster
Dick Cheney = Shooter
John Baynor = Tan Man
He fights for middle class/blue collar people without the venom against minorities that you see on the Right.
the political attacks on here are just so LAME and completely toxic
keith may be a jag but there are an almost equal amount of jags on either side… whether i believe there are more loons and jags on the right than there are pompous jags on the left, it ultimately doesnt matter to them bc controversy sells! i hate palin, hannity, beck and o’reilly [who doesnt understand a simple thing like tides??] but i have to hand it to them, they will not have to worry about money for quite some time as long as us peasant jag-offs keep falling for the the same b/s schtick over and over again:
FOX: “immigration, communists, obamacare, death panels!!!”
MSNBC: “tea-partiers, fascists, wing-nuts, fundamentalists!!!”
meanwhile, 90% of us make less than the top 1% and more and more of my friends lose jobs and continue having to move back in with parents or with friends, more and more people i know are seeing themselves entering a welfare state… and then i hear that JP Morgan makes MONEY OFF PROCESSING FOOD STAMPS… so JP’s [and wall streets] criminal actions feed the recession which feeds a bigger welfare state which in turn FEEDS JP & FRIENDS bonuses and buys them a third or fourth vacation home or yacht!
lovely, and that is only one atrocity occurring while we fight about whether oreilly or olbermann is the bigger jagoff
I am sorry to see KO leave. He was absolutely brilliant
I was going to outcry the use of the term “jag” to describe Olberman, but I see that so many have already expressed their respect for Keith. I’ll miss him so much and I think it’s a loss to not have him on anymore. He is smart and calls it like it is without apologizing for it ( and isn’t that what Celebitchy is all about?!).
Good. Can’t stand him.
KO was intellectually dishonest and in no way a journalist as some have described him. Arrogant, condescending, and vile. He and others like him – left and right – feed us our opinions as though we are too stupid to form our own. Just the facts, please. I am a former print journalist who wonders what happened to journalistic ethics. Guess they got spun into no holds barred pandering pundits platforms, and we all get fooled on a 24/7 basis. Daily reader. First time poster. Love the witty/bitchy posts. Sorry this isn’t one.
Hate Olbermann! Good riddance to bad rubbish!
I can’t say that I really liked the man or his show but that’s pretty messed up for them to just tell him, probably while he was taping, that that was going to be his last show (that seems to be the common theory right now).
Yea he’s kind of a blowhard and kind of obnoxious but he never really stooped to the level of Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly or the two-tacos-short-of-a-combination-plate Glenn Beck who should really seek counseling not have his own platform for spouting his paranoid, insane nonsense.
No one is perfect, but I did appreciate his passion for getting liberal ideals out there and he’ll continue doing it at some other network-he’s too popular to not get another show.
He was no journalist. Journalists are supposed to report the news. Glad he’s gone. He bordered on evil.
I can’t imagine Keith Olbermann will be gone from MSNBC. Sure he had some strong opinions, but I loved his ability to tackle the BS from the right and those within NBC. It can often be said that the truth can set you free. Maybe corporate MSNBC was at odds with Keith’s often stinging words of truth. Keith was the one man that made MSNBC worth watching night after night, Rachael is the only other reason I watch MSNBC. There are rumors that Lawrence O’Donnell will be replacing Keith and if so, my TV will be on another channel. I can’t stand Lawrence. Lawrence is so smug, so arrogant that he can’t possible fill Olbermann’s shoes. Shame on you MSNBC for you have slain the only intellectual giant on your show besides Rachael. If Comcast had anything to do with this change, I will switch to Verizon as soon as possible. Please Keith, tell us the truth of what happened, your fans deserve it.
Alex
Kieth is an arrogant person who claimed that he was for justice and uncovering the “motives of the right”. The only rules that he played by were his own rules. He constantly made fun of and made a mockery of people that happened not to buy into his far left agenda. Looks like pride went before the fall of keith.
KO reminds me of “Frazier” in a sense. If you “got” it, you loved it. If not,you hated it. I got it and I loved both.
KO spoke truth and provoked thought. Yes he was opinionated, but he is after all, human. I didn’t always agree with some of his criticims,but I can’t ever recall a time I disagreed with the facts.
KO, good night, good luck and I hope we see you soon. Politics just won’t be the same w/o you.
I think that the firing of KO is just the tip of the iceberg for Comcast. Next to be whacked will be Rachael Maddow and Ed Schultz…
While everyone’s job at FOX news is secure. Even the pedophile’s until the police comes along.
“I am so tired of the conservatives getting away with saying and doing anything they please with NO consequences.”
@ mary: absolutely. the most appalling was when rush limbaugh made fun of michael j. fox and said he was exaggerating his parkinson’s for the cameras? he said michael didn’t take his meds so his tremors would be heightened when he was testifying before congress regarding stem cell research. there was very little backlash on that. i think he should have been cancelled right then and there but he is still on, spewing his poison.
From what I’ve read, Keith likes to out people who don’t wan to be outed(Anderson Cooper) for one. Keith’s a fraud.
Anyone think this is directly related to last week’s 30Rock? They were talking about the “Kabletown” merger and at one point Jack was on the phone trying to negotiate a deal and said (paraphrasing) “No, you have to get that with NBC….well then just don’t watch it!”
Inneresting…
If he was so good he’d have ratings, liberals hate seeing one of thiers fall down go boom
AGREE WITH ALEX / WOLFE….PLEASE KEITH TELL US THE TRUTH SO WE CAN BE SET FREE.
ME AND MY ENTIRE FAMILY WILL FOLLOW YOUR NEW VENTURE WHERE IT LEADS. RACHEL IS UNHAPPY FOR ALL TO SEE. I DID FEEL GOOD ABOUT LAWRENCE HAVING WORDS ETC. A MORAL /GOODBY… SOME KIND OF FORTITUTE AND GOING AWAY COMMENTS AS WELL AS RACHEL LAST NIGHT.. THAT I BELIEVE IS WORTHY FOR MY FUTURE ACCEPTANCE OF THEM. MSNBC / CON-CAST IS DONE FOR US AND FRIENDS. LOVE YA KO !!
wish you K O the best, we will wait for your next move. your the greatest oped
announcer/ host/ progressive ever.
For all the smear against you, Live, laugh, love !they are sooooooo jealous and green with envy, you will be rising even better against the wing-nuts, tight and loos.
For cryin out loud, can we all just play effing red/blue rover (childhood game)forever!? Keith O was fired because he is difficult to work with. No one likes an a hole at the office. Whether O’Reilly is an on air a hole, maybe he isn’t in the Fox News offices. (hard to believe but maybe true 😉 KO was condiscending on and off air even if he was astute.
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