Keith Olbermann Pulled From Air for Penn State THON Tweets
ESPN has suspended Keith Olbermann for the rest of the week after a series of tweets he directed at Penn State students last night.
ESPN and Olbermann have both released statements. ESPN avoids the words “suspension” in its statement, but it’s clear it’s a suspension even if both sides agreed to it.
We are aware of the exchange Keith Olbermann had on Twitter last night regarding Penn State. It was completely inappropriate and does not reflect the views of ESPN. We have discussed it with Keith, who recognizes he was wrong. ESPN and Keith have agreed that he will not host his show for the remainder of this week and will return on Monday. The annual tradition of THON and the efforts of the students of Penn State to fight pediatric cancer should be applauded.
I apologize for the PSU tweets. I was stupid and childish and way less mature than the students there who did such a great fundraising job.
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) February 24, 2015
How’d this start? It stems from the deal state officials made last month with the NCAA that restored Joe Paterno’s vacated wins. Olbermann went on his show and blasted the NCAA and Penn State, essentially saying they cared more about Joe Paterno’s legacy than the lives of children Jerry Sandusky molested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSBVO6rU57A
He went after Penn State again a few days later. Onward State’s Kevin Horne fired back in a long open letter aping Olbermann’s style of argumentation (perhaps accidentally) and defending Joe Paterno.
Then, a month-long detente. But Penn State’s annual THON took place last weekend; it raised more than $13 million for the Four Diamonds Fund, a charity that assists childhood cancer patients at Penn State’s medical school in Hershey.
Complex has compiled a listing of the tweets Olbermann sent. It began after an enterprising Penn State graduate baited him into it by sending him a note about the money Penn State had raised.
@lisaadeleon …Pitiful
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) February 23, 2015
Things continued from there.
.@dave_seidel No, Son. I said PSU students were pitiful. Had nothing to do with fundraising #AlsoPSUReadingComprehensionAppearsToBeWeak
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) February 23, 2015
.@dave_seidel Again – get your $ back – you didn't learn how to read. PSU students are pitiful because they're PSU students – period.
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) February 23, 2015
.@ColinBenner Good for you. Doesn't change the school's reputation. Check back next century.
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) February 24, 2015
.@dave_seidel Did you learn that at Penn State too? Fired once in 35 years. Sorry to interrupt your stupidity – carry on.
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) February 23, 2015
I'd like to thank the students and alums of Penn State for proving my point about the mediocrity of their education and ethics.
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) February 24, 2015
ESPN hired Olbermann, of course, to court this type of controversy. He wasn’t suspended when he said Flyers fans are not literate. Of course, Flyers fans are Flyers fans — and THON raises money to comfort childhood cancer patients with 96% of contributions going to the Four Diamonds Fund. And if he meant “it’s pitiful that you think raising money for charity offsets the actions taken by the Penn State administration in the past, I think” or a similar comment — well, he didn’t say that.
6 ABC streamed THON on the web this year, and several of its anchors were swift to condemn Olbermann.
Keith Olbermann. "Pitiful" is picking on charity minded college kids to draw attention to one's self.
— Brian Taff (@briantaff6abc) February 24, 2015
Good for ESPN for suspending Keith Olbermann. How dare he put "Pitiful" and Penn State's #THON in the same sentence! We Are…INSPIRING!
— Jamie Apody (@JamieApody) February 24, 2015
Olbermann should return to the air next week. Penn State’s men’s hockey team, once singled-out on air by the ESPN anchor, won the THON dance competition.