Apparently Keith Olbermann has been suspended

[Nuclear Unicorn]

Story here -- http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2015/02/24/espns-keith-olbermann-suspended-over-penn-state-thon-tweets/


Apparently, he got into a twitter fight and emerged triumphantly. However, he shall not be escorted around the studio in a golf cart pulled by white stallions while an intern holds aloft a laurel and whispers, "Remember, thou art contracted! Remember, thou art contracted!"

Instead, finding his comments unduly abrasive, ESPN has suspended Mr. Olbermann.

When the Phil Robertson kerfuffle was all the rage I said it was as bad a policy to have private entities censor people as much as it is a bad idea to have government entities censor people. I was excoriated for picking the wrong side of the issue and anyway private entities cannot censor people.

And I'm a hater, or something.

Well, now the unchecked corporatist power has once again reared its ugly head and now it has devoured one of our own. The turn of events was wholly predictable. In the process of trying to silence one voice we have provided the very same gag that will be used to silence our own voices and we have asked -- nay -- DEMANDED! that this power be exercised against us at the first hint of controversy.

I'm not sure how to stuff this corporatist djinni back into its bottle but it needs to be done -- and fast. I get it, Robertson et al are repugnant but the tree of Liberty must sometimes be fertilized with the droppings of BS'ers but it is the only tree that will bear the true fruit of liberalism.

[bigwillq]

1. Again?

[FSogol]

2. Lesson: Don't drink and Tweet.

There is an annoying sport talk radio guy in our town that maintains that Twitter is more dangerous than a machine gun to those in the public eye.

Olbermann sure seems to step in it.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

3. "Olbermann sure seems to step in it."

Regardless, he should not be suspended for speaking his own mind on his own time.

[msanthrope]

6. Except that his contract with ESPN might say otherwise. nt

[FSogol]

7. Unless he is embarrassing the company he represents.

He is not some guy in accounting, he's a public face of the company. While I like Olbermann he sure is a problem employee. No one seems to wear out his welcome faster.

[AngryAmish]

18. tell that to Brandon Eich.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

19. That's my point.

It's easy when this is someone who isn't sympathetic but this practice is going to metastasize and when it devours someone who is on the right side of an issue all those being dismissive today will be howling the loudest when its gets the good guy tomorrow.

[brendan120678]

28. KO's twitter profile includes a link to his employer's website....

And he also clearly states that he has a right to use any tweets sent to him on his (ESPN's) broadcast.

I believe, therefore that ESPN is certainly within their rights to suspend him if it may reflect badly on the company.

[HappyMe]

8. He sure did step in it.

I don't feel bad for KO. You would think he would have learned by now.

[WillowTree]

34. No. He apparently has no internal editor.

And no particular desire to develop one.

[sabrina 1]

24. I follow him on twitter and have never seen him 'step in it'. I HAVE seen him make mince meat out of

bullies and right wing trolls. He sure is good at that. I guess he made some idiot look bad or something. But I agree with the OP anyhow, if he wasn't tweeting on THEIR time, he was perfectly within his rights.

I hope he sues them and wins. People's freedoms are being more and more restricted in this country.

[cui bono]

43. Headline: Geraldo blames selfie on tequila

?9

[brendan120678]

4. Olbermann is an ass, and deserved what he got. (eom)

[Logical]

21. LOL, ok, I assume Keith made you mad at some point. nt

[BainsBane]

5. Guy really can't hold down a job, can he?

It's been one thing after another. Now he's insulting college kids? He needs some anger management counselling.

[GP6971]

33. I think he needs something stronger

Maybe a couch in a mental health counselors office

[FLPanhandle]

9. I have no idea what you are complaining about

My employer would fire me if I went off on some drunken public online rant that embarrassed them, and rightly so.

[JI7]

10. someone like him shouldn't be on Twitter on the first place

And i love the guy and miss watching him

[sabrina 1]

25. I follow him on twitter and couldn't disagree more. In fact, he should get away from Corporations

altogether and do his own thing.

His take downs of morons on Twitter is epic. Morons don't like being taken down naturally and Corporations worry more about image than anything else.

THEY knew he won't toe the line when they hired him.

Now they'r whining, he should just sue them for the rest of his contract, and free himself totally from Corporate influences.

[dilby]

11. What he did was beyond stupid.

Bashing a bunch of kids is never going to look good in the public eye.

[ND-Dem]

31. can you link to an account of what you're talking about?

[WillowTree]

36. And particularly kids who just did something pretty great.

[Sheldon Cooper]

12. "Emerged triumphantly"?

Ha! Hardly. His big stupid mouth got him into a fight with some kids who were raising money for pediatric cancer research. Way to pick your fights, Keith. Asshole.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

13. Yes, how dare you Keith!

Penn State, the most protected university in the world. Their precious snowflakes can't handle the fact that there hero allowed child molestation to go on for years.

Save your replies, apologists.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

14. Neither the event nor Olbermann's tweets involved the abuse travesty. nt

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

15. "WE ARE".....Penn State....is symbolic of the arrogance they've displayed

They want to put the Joe Paterno statue back you know....and they make no apologies for it.

Anyone who shows that much "pride" in Penn State can go fuck themselves.

[Wheaty]

16. Origin of "We Are". It was about racial equality.

[link:

|

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

17. And now it's about circling the wagons and protecting a child molester and a dottering old fool n/m

[dilby]

20. Harrasing kids because they attend a school that once had a man who molested kids.

Makes perfect sense, probably did to Keith too after he downed his 6th shot.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

22. Baloney, they tweeted him and invited comment

"We're Penn State, look how wonderful we are when we aren't raping kids and whining about not having football on TV"

[Lex]

23. IF anyone thinks KO is actually sorry about this...

I have a bridge to sell you. He knows he's an ass ... and he doesn't care. That's why he keeps having to change jobs.
I actually like the guy.

[MFM008]

26. when hes wrong

Ill criticize him, so far he hasnt been.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

27. The OP isn't a critique; it's a defense of his right to speak his mind w/o corporatist controls. nt

[frankieallen]

30. olbermann is extremly angry, he needs to chill.

[R B Garr]

32. At least Olberman didn't say he's seen nuns shot in the back of the head

Football fans are notorious creeps online. I quit posting on a football website years ago because of the viciousness and total irrationality.

Reality is that the colleges themselves feed this type of viciousness and irrationality. All of college football is basically based on region bashing. Olberman would have been lambasted by fans of other colleges if he just glossed over Penn State's past.

[bullwinkle428]

35. KO should have threatened to "come at them with everything he has"; his employer

would have happily stood up for him!

[Calista241]

37. emerged triumphant?

He just ridiculed a bunch of college kids for raising funds for pediatric cancer, because they also attend Penn State. Those kids worked their asses off to raise that money. And it's a great cause.

Those kids had NOTHING to do with Penn State when Jerry Sandusky was there. Paterno retired in 2011. The vast majority of these kids didn't go to Penn State when Paterno coached.

You can't hold a grudge forever.

[R B Garr]

38. To be fair, Olberman's original rant was a legitimate criticism of the NCAA's

decisions relating to the reinstatement of Penn State's wins, etc.

http://deadspin.com/keith-olbermann-dropkicks-ncaa-and-penn-state-through-f-1680052607

The college "kids" Twitter war came after that, and it wasn't really that far off base if you consider where Olberman was coming from in relation to the NCAA.

[former9thward]

39. He was attacking students raising money for pancreatic cancer

Don't drink and tweet. He will be fired eventually, just like everyplace else he has worked.

[R B Garr]

41. It did get out of hand. But it's also a shame about the NCAA

that college students are punished for things that happened years prior when they were kids themselves and had nothing to do with the infractions.

Unfortunately, the NCAA is arbitrary with their sanctions (at least many times we've seen), and a lot of colleges would like favorable treatment, so it's gong to have some backlash if one college gets favorable treatment over another. I think that's where Keith was coming from.

I hope Keith is not fired. What I saw of his Tweets fits his personality, which is like many TV personalities, brash and...BRASH. Maybe he was drinking...could be? I hope he's not fired.

[Go Vols]

40. Maybe Keith is in a position

where he doesn't give a fuck anymore.

Not all rich folks kiss ass.

[SidDithers]

42. Just another example of a 1%er who thinks the world revolves around him...

Right, defenders?

Sid