Keith Olbermann Interview…
In a must read, The Hollywood Reporter’s Marisa Guthrie interviews Keith Olbermann…
The following summer, Olbermann was yanked from NBC’s Sunday Night Football preshow, a move that clearly still irks him. Until then, he had a hand in NBC Sports’ football coverage dating to 2007. Company executives said he was removed from Football Night in America because it interfered with his day job on Countdown. But internally, he was criticized for lacing his commentary with political references, a no-no in the apolitical arena of televised sports. And Olbermann contends Zucker was personally punishing him.
“You are not allowed to disagree with him, or he will exact vengeance,” says Olbermann.
The particular transgression that got him booted? Olbermann says he was caught gossiping about Zucker’s fate at the company after Comcast had announced its bid to merge with NBCUniversal. “There was a lot of speculation about what would happen,” he says. “One surprisingly accurate bit of speculation on every floor of the building was, ‘I betcha they don’t keep Jeff.’ And apparently he heard that I had said this. I was there, and I was a convenient punching bag, and everybody would believe everything they said about me. And so off I went.” (Zucker did not respond to repeated e-mails seeking comment.)
Inside Cable News 
June 7, 2011 at 9:57 am
“You are not allowed to disagree with him, or he will exact vengeance,” says Olbermann.
That’s rich.
Olbermann is old news. He’s irrelevant.
June 7, 2011 at 10:04 am
Anything to get us away from Twitter Boy.
June 7, 2011 at 10:51 am
Johnny Dollar, are you having a launch party at your crib for the return of KO?
June 7, 2011 at 10:57 am
10 million a year from Current TV (3 more than his MSNBC salary) and he’s still getting paid by MSNBC for 1 and half more years. He also has an equity stake, which can potentially earn him 100 million. He’s also the 4th highest rank executive at the company.
He did pretty good for himself. I think Current TV made a good investment and will reap the rewards. Only time will tell.
June 7, 2011 at 11:48 am
Anybody that pays KO that much money deserve to loss it…might as well give their money to those internet scams…no one is going to watch him…now Current might see a slight bump but no where near where they think people will stop asking “what the hell is Current TV”?
June 7, 2011 at 12:01 pm
He also has an equity stake, which can potentially earn him 100 million.
It also could potentially be worth less than the paper it was printed on. Wanna take bets as to which is more likely?