It might have absolutely nothing to do with Comcast and MSRNC...

[madinmaryland]

Keith lost both of his parents within a very short time period, just a year or two ago. He has seen the vitriol increase exponentially over the last two years and then saw the massacre in Phoenix two weeks ago.

Is it possible that with all the vitriol being spewed at him by the reich wing, he felt it was time to move on?

I don't know. I do know that Keith is passionate in his views and will be back in some way, shape, or form to this on-going debate. One only needs to look at what he did by raising millions to provide free health care to those who could not afford it.

[highplainsdem]

1. His farewell statement said he was "told" it would be his last show.

That word alone makes it clear this was not his decision.

If he were leaving for the reasons you suggest, I'm sure he'd have made sure all his fans knew that.

[Honeycombe8]

13. He may have given notice, and the bosses said, well you can leave now? nt

[Very_Boring_Name]

20. Then why would they pay him what was left on his two year contract

if he was the one breaking it?

[Honeycombe8]

23. He may have asked to be let out of his contract, or there may be a provision...

letting him leave for certain reasons, and requires MSNBC to pay him a certain amount. He had signed a 5 year contract for 30 Million Dollars. He had 2 years left on the contract. I didn't hear if they paid him the full amount left on the contract.

NBC paid Conan O'Bryan $40M. They didn't fire Conan. They changed his time slot. Then he quit, alleging that they were in effect firing him from "The Tonight Show," because TTS has traditionally been on in the time slot he was being removed from. So they came to an agreed payment, to pay out Conan's contract.

But maybe KO WAS fired. We just don't know. They were also having issues over the "Worst Person in the World" bit.

[glinda]

2. And don't forget the death threats he has received.

[madinmaryland]

3. And to add: One of the three political contributions was to Gabrielle Giffords.

eom

[Hannah Bell]

4. telling.

[Honeycombe8]

12. Really? I didn't know that. Interesting. nt

[robinlynne]

5. It was comcast.

[madinmaryland]

6. Did you see his "special comment" on Jan. 9th?? I think it has a lot

to do with what happened on 01/08/2011. It really bothered him.

[robinlynne]

7. Comcast bought his network. The owner is a BUSH fundraiser. one of the biggest.

We all knew Keith would be fired. Keith did not silence his own voice.

[Umbral]

8. ...all the vitriol being spewed at him by the reich wing?

Somehow, I don't think Olbermann suffers the same weaknesses as Democratic Senators.

[Forkboy]

9. My feeling is that it's a combination of both.

He was being pushed out the door, and he's the type that's smart enough to see that and escort himself out instead of waiting for that final push. It's like the old line, "I've been thrown out of better places than this."

We'll have to wait and see what he says about it. I doubt he'll be silent for long.

[OHdem10]

10. It more likely the civility police. I am watching for signs the next

few days.

[Honeycombe8]

11. Someone on CNN said that KO had been scouting around for new job...

for some time, that it was no secret that he was unhappy there.

[Tunkamerica]

14. Someone said that? I love someone. They're always so succinct.

[Honeycombe8]

15. There were three phone guests on Cooper's show. One was David Shuster.

I think it was Shuster who said that, but I can't recall exactly. It could've been that pundit that's somewhat pudgy, wears glasses, and is bald. I see him all the time but can't recall his name. And I didn't know the other man (it was just his voice).

Now do you get it? All three were people in the business and who know Keith.

[Tunkamerica]

16. Well, if Pudgy said it, it must be true.. totally keith's decision

and obviously ghostly voice guy never tells a lie, so you know... that's two sources. Must be true.


Love how you're all over this. Great job!

[NuclearDem]

17. Ali Velshi, David Shuster, and Bill Carter

Velshi's the pundit, Carter's the reporter with the NYT article about Keith.

[Tunkamerica]

18. Great ! you just made uniformed opinion seem more true!

[Honeycombe8]

21. I don't get it. Do you WANT KO to have been fired? Are you not interested in

the facts?

There are three people, one (or two) of whom know KO and one worked for him, and Cooper nodded his head, agreeing that it is generally known in the business that Keith was unhappy at MSNBC and had been scouting around.

That's no big surprise, is it? After all, Shuster himself was fired after MSNBC found out he was "scouting" around at CNN.

I've scouted around a few times. It's a common thing to do. It's not like they were saying he was firing sniper bullets from a car in the evenings. He was doing was MOST people do at one time or another: check out the job market to see if he could find something he liked better. No big deal (except to your employer, I guess).

Sounds reasonable. Makes sense. I believe it. Doesn't mean he was fired over it. It means just what it means: that he was unhappy & had been scouting around.

[Tunkamerica]

22. Of course it was Keith's fault. How are you reading my comments differently?

All like minded people realize he brought this on himself. If Cooper nodded his head then that's enough for this American!

[backscatter712]

19. I highly doubt it. This smells like Comcast's doing. n/t