On Tuesday, the ESPN host launched a 140-character-a-tweet rant on Twitter against Penn State University. The reason: The world-renowned college holding an annual dance marathon (apply [and genius-ly] titled THON) raising money for research towards a cure for cancer.
Here's what he said in his foolish fight against students:
(the tweets are chain-reaction)
@lisaadeleon ...Pitiful
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) February 23, 2015.@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, 2015More PSU education. My trash what? RT @COLTS_R_BETTER @KeithOlbermann your trash
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) February 24, 2015Okay, I admit, that one is funny at the end.
@EricOwensFS Don't make shit up, Sonny. You'll wind up running Penn State.
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) February 24, 2015.@ColinBenner Good for you. Doesn't change the school's reputation. Check back next century.
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) February 24, 2015I'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, 2015After this, ESPN quickly suspended Olbermann for a week. Here's its' statement:
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.
This caused him to apologize on Twitter for the stupid spat:
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, 2015For one thing, he's wrong for calling all students of Penn State "pitiful"; maybe because he's a proud alumni of another college that so happens to rival PSU, maybe not. Doesn't mean he's not a jackass, though. And he's more of one for this implement of criticizing THON. Sure, cancer has no known cure yet, but at least they're doing their best to market research. He on the other hand, is a fool for saying this.
On the other hand, I mean he didn't say anything overtly offensive or absolutely stupid; I mean he wasn't talking about THON, just the "ethics" from the PSU students (maybe they misread what he said greatly, maybe he was baited by them to say some shit he shouldn't have been saying), but he did say enough to cause this story, so it makes him an idiot a little for going further.
But, since he's known for commentary like this, I don't think he should be suspended for this long. Just tell him not to say stuff like this again, and if he does it again, then suspend him, at least for 3-4 days.
Anyway, if he does this again--not that he'll ever get any sympathy from me anyway--I wpn't be surprised that he'll get his just desserts in the form of a pink slip from John Skipper, and little, yet embarrassing crawl back to MSNBC. Or maybe the network currently known as Al Jazeera America can can hire him again. His commentary is perfect for the short group of Americans who still watch him.
Anyway, congrats to Penn State for another successful THON Weekend. Over $13 Million raised throughout the event, all to raise money for research toward a cure for childhood cancer. Great job and congrats to everyone involved on another successful year.
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