Olbermann “mock threatens” O’Reilly…apologizes?
From an emailer talking about today’s ESPN radio show with Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann…
Did you hear KO on Dan Patrick’s show today? He had to apologize for a nasty remark he made about Bill O’Reilly. He and Dan were talking about Dancing with the Stars and KO said he would cut BOR’s hamstring, I think, if he heard that Bill were to appear on the show. He issued an apology (I don’t know if he was forced).
You have to be an ESPN Insider to hear it. As I’m not, I can’t vouch for the veracity of the above, though the show recap says…
• Plus- Emmitt wins Dancing with the Stars and KO challenges Bill O’Reilly to a dance-off.
UPDATE: Olbermann Watch has the audio….
UPDATE 2: Reworded blog entry title. It was originally written last night when I didn’t have a good handle on what had happened (having not heard the incident at that point). But it’s obvious that to call it “ridicule” is the wrong term. Since it seemed obvious that he was joking, even though the joke was in questionable taste to say the least given what happened with Keith, I changed it to “mock threatens”…
Sounds like ESPN isn’t interested in letting their hosts use their airtime for personal attacks and vendettas. Maybe MSNBC should take note.
Comment by TT — November 17, 2006 @ 8:42 am
Olbermann is truly pathetic and I’m pretty sure listeners tuning in to hear him and Patrick talk sports don’t want to be included in Keith’s personal feud with O’Reilly.
Comment by Buck — November 17, 2006 @ 10:02 am
Maybe those great sport icons, Keith Olbermann and O.J. Simpson could have a radio show of their own.
I good title might be O.J. and K.O. Ughhhhhhhhhh!
The two worst people in the world.
Comment by cella — November 17, 2006 @ 10:43 am
On his program, Keith has shown PLENTY of righteous indignation anytime one of his professed enemies has made a similar joke. He rarely passes up a chance to criticize someone else for saying similar things.
I don’t know whether he was forced to apologize or not, but in his case, the apology was warranted.
Comment by William — November 17, 2006 @ 11:21 am
Olbermann said, when they came back from commercial, that some people had complained. Could have been listeners, could have people at ESPN.
Kudos to Mr. Cox for running the audio, and especially for running so much of it to put it all in context. Too often these days, a soundbite distorts the truth. Not on Olbermannwatch.
Olbermann said he had decided to grow up and let go of the O’Reilly bashing. I haven’t watched Olbermann for a while; anyone know how long it’s been since he mentioned O’Reilly on Countdown? If it’s true, kudos to Mr. Olbermann for that.
And kudos to Mr. O’Reilly for taking on Fox. I’m sure Mr. Ailes would praise him too. When I disagree with someone in my family, I’m not shy about letting it be known. And since Ailes added Fox to his resume, I’m sure some of FNC’s audience has been lost to Fox, FX, the History Channel, and others which are now advertised heavily on FNC.
Comment by erljr — November 17, 2006 @ 1:04 pm
Spud,
As a point of order, Olbermann did not apologize for “ridiculing” O’Reilly. He apologizing for joking that if and O’Reilly were competing on Dancing with the Stars that he would cut O’Reilly’s hamstring with a surgeon’s knife (in the apology he said “pen knife” which is not what he said) and that he would “do a Nancy Kerrigan” on him (i.e., hire someone to smash O’Reilly in the knee with a metal rod).
While it is not clear whether Olbermann’s on-air correction/apology was his own decision or one forced on him by ESPN, it is certainly clear that this was yet another example of Olbypocrisy - in the past week he has criticized Laura Ingram for joking on the radio that “we all” (her listeners) should call a Democratic Voter Hotline on election day (a form of DoS attack) and Michelle Malkin on the specious grounds that she (and Ingraham and Ann Coulter) was culpable for the actions of a California man who sent a “fake anthrax” letter to Olbermann because he may have written that he “worshipped Malkin” on FreeRepublic.com.
Comment by Robert Cox — November 17, 2006 @ 1:05 pm
> anyone know how long it’s been since he mentioned O’Reilly on Countdown?
How about last night? Olbermann let go of attacking O’Reilly? That lasted all of about five hours.
Comment by johnny dollar — November 17, 2006 @ 1:12 pm
How can you build an entire program out of criticizing another program, on another network? This schtick is going to start to wear thin with the few viewers he has.
Comment by spiffo — November 17, 2006 @ 1:14 pm
Spiffo, the short answer is that you can’t–that’s why Olbermann’s ratings ironically never come close to O’Reilly’s.
Comment by Caufield — November 17, 2006 @ 1:40 pm
Thanks Johnny. I just knew it couldn’t be true.
Comment by erljr — November 17, 2006 @ 2:09 pm
The Olbermann v. BOR feud is pretty much a one-way conflict. Im not sure if Orielly even knows Dr. Orange even exists on cable anymore. Question: If Olbermann criticizes BOR or makes his “Special Comment” and nobody watches his show, does he really matter?
Comment by badbilly — November 17, 2006 @ 2:11 pm
Olby has taken to calling himself the Modern Day Murrow AND Thomas Beckett. Funny. I don’t recall those two guys threatening to injure somebody else (joke or not).
Comment by eddiebear — November 17, 2006 @ 2:52 pm
Yea, he’s like a tree falling in the forest, with nobody around.
Comment by spiffo — November 17, 2006 @ 3:14 pm
KO’s “mock” threat to attack O’Reilly was about as humorous as the mock anthrax threat against KO. Which is to say not funny at all. KO claimed that he was letting go of the BOR feud. Doesn’t look that way at all.
Comment by Goldfish — November 17, 2006 @ 7:12 pm
don’t you people have anything more intelligent to talk about?
Comment by colleen — November 17, 2006 @ 7:57 pm
Olbermann has taken the hour he spends on Patrick’s show daily and turned it into a lovefest for himself. Just a few weeks ago he had his girlfriend on the show in a speaking role.
I really don’t think sports fans care about Olbermann’s Prada and Marc Jacobs purchases any more than they do about his O’Reilly obsession. It’s disgusting.
Comment by anon — November 17, 2006 @ 8:01 pm
If you don’t like the discussion, then why are you here, Colleen?
Comment by Goldfish — November 17, 2006 @ 8:17 pm
We love KO’s show. We never miss an episode! We highly recommend him and think he should win an Emmy.
Comment by Elanie — November 18, 2006 @ 12:33 am
Win and Emmy? Seriously? That is about the funniest thing I have heard since…..I don’t know when.
Comment by jerziegrl — November 18, 2006 @ 12:46 pm
Perhaps the reason Olberman displays such outrage regarding people like O’Reilly is that the O’Reillys of the world mask themselves as actual journalists when in reality they utilize many forms of deceptive reporting to push an agenda - at this point the Republican GOP talking points with no attention to actual truth in reporting. When I need a good laugh I tune into O’Reilly. Unfortunately my smile usually fades quickly when I realize how many people actually believe what he is saying to be true, however that’s why a high majority of O’Reilly’s audience is comprised of viewers with a very low level education. BTW - for anyone who is interested - O’Reilly’s ratings are actually LOWER than Olberman’s - like many of O’Reilly’s claims, just because he says it DOESN’T make it true.
As someone who has studied journalism and recognizes many of the very common marketing tactics used by O’Reilly to convince people of things that are simply not true I am heartened to see an actual real journalist like Keith Olberman being televised.
Comment by * — November 18, 2006 @ 6:50 pm
Well, Inside Cable News posts the ratings night after night. And the fact that you claim that Olbermann has higher ratings than O’Reilly tells us all we need to know about the Gullibility Factor of Olbypologists.
Comment by johnny dollar — November 18, 2006 @ 9:39 pm
* (is that how we are refer to you?),
O’Reilly has CONSTANTLY stated that he is NOT a journalist, and that his program consists of NEWS ANALYSIS!!!!!
How can you POSSIBLY stated that Olbermann’s ratings are higher than O’Reilly’s? O’Reilly 4 a.m. THIRD broadcoast of the factor even beats Keith’s prime time showing.
I love how you Olbermaniacs can write such eloquent justifications for your hero, while blatently ignoring well publicized facts and data that would prove you wrong. If you want to make remarks about ratings, PLEASE REFRAIN FROM OPINION, and INSTEAD, CITE SOME DATA TO MAKE YOUR POINT!!!!
And another thing. Exactly what has O’Reilly said that is not true? Tell us SPECIFICALLY what you’re in a snit about.
Finally, what about this education thing? I have a feeling that Keith’s fans are probably like John Kerry - they give the illusion of being intellectual, but when scrutinized, may in fact even be less educated and intelligent than their more conservative peers. Remember how Bush was treated as an intellectual inferior throughout the last Presidential campaign? We then find out that Kerry’s grades were WORSE than those of President Bush.
Comment by Missy — November 20, 2006 @ 2:26 pm
s/b “blatantly”
Also, I apologize to the other posters for my use of caps in the above post. But it is infuriating to see someone post such untruths, and to think that we are stupid enough to ignore actual ratings data and believe him instead!
Sorry, “*”, we’ve all been here a long time and can easily read ratings. And you are wrong.
Comment by Missy — November 20, 2006 @ 2:33 pm
Another mistake. “The Factor”!
I’m doing too many things right now.
Comment by Missy — November 20, 2006 @ 2:52 pm