Keith Olbermann settles lawsuit with Al Gore's Current TV for $50m

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Guardian

Keith Olbermann settles lawsuit with Al Gore's Current TV for $50m

Famously rambunctious broadcaster was fired last year, triggering angry recriminations aimed at former employer

Rory Carroll in Los Angeles
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 13 March 2013 16.06 EDT

Keith Olbermann may never get another job in television but quite possibly does not need one after settling a $50m lawsuit against Al Gore's Current TV.

The famously rambunctious broadcaster received a reportedly "significant payout" in mediation talks with his former employer, ending a feud which entertained, appalled and divided their liberal constituency.

Olbermann, 54, who has previously clashed with employers at ESPN and MSNBC, sued Current TV after being fired last year in a dramatic falling out which triggered angry recriminations.

A daylong session at the San Francisco offices of Antonio Piazza of Mediation Negotiations produced the settlement on Tuesday, obviating a scheduled trial at the Los Angeles superior court in May. Both sides are expected to file court documents dropping the case.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/mar/13/keith-olbermann-current-tv-lawsuit-settle?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theguardian%2Fmedia%2Frss+%28Media%29

[2Design]

1. not happy that keith soaked al gore for his rebellious ways n/t

[awoke_in_2003]

25. I love Keith...

but hate this. His big head and ego got him fired.

[yellowcanine]

37. Keith did not always do his his due diligence on some of his stories.

And he wronged at least one person that I know about by labeling him "worst person in the world" when all this person did was do his job according to how he was trained in his scientific field. Neither he nor his producers ever tried to contact this individual before or after this story, which imo is just wrong. They did what they did because they could and because they did not bother to do an even rudimentary check of the actual facts. After that I no longer trusted anything KO said on TV because as far as I was concerned, he was just a showman and could not be trusted. I am convinced his early successes he had with the show went to his head and he subsequently overreached. So no he does not deserve to be paid anything, let alone $50 million.

[amuse bouche]

2. I don't think he got 50 million

It was a 50 million lawsuit but he settled

I believe it was for 5 million

[amuse bouche]

6. I folllow him on twitter

and he only talks baseball and sunset photos

He writes a column on MLB and has been traveling to all the Spring Training games tweeting pictures of old timers and skies. Even on the Pope he tweeted 'White Smoke...No comment"

If he gets another job, I think it will be sports related only

[politicat]

31. That was probably because of the suit.

Isn't the first rule in a contract suit "Don't give your opponent ammunition?"

On the other hand, I hope that he's gained some perspective. I stopped watching him long before his MSNBC flameout because that much ego gets irritating.

[Cal33]

41. And his lawyer probably got one-third. :)

[Yavin4]

3. The big losers in this case are all of Keith's staffers that moved from MSNBC with him

They're probably out of a job.

[Botany]

4. Keith was a first rate a-hole

I used to be big fan but no longer he helped to sink current TV.

[Samantha]

10. Joel Hyatt sank Current TV

Last edited Wed Mar 13, 2013, 10:57 PM - Edit history (1)

You should read up on HIS history. Obviously, if Keith Olbermann pocketed a significant sum, the arbitrator had to have held Current somewhat responsible.

He did not lobby Current for that job. They approached him months before he left MSNBC and convinced him to join Current. Despite all the posts here that he was fired, he was not. His lawyers negotiated with MSNBC to terminate the contract. The fact he quit was verified by Rachel Maddow on cable shortly after he left.

Keith Olbermann is a perfectionist and a one-of-a-kind in his field. We sure could have used his voice over the past few months and as the day's events proceed in the now.

His commentary on the Iraq War got me through those days, and no other commentator came near his courage in speaking out. It is our loss that he is no longer working.

Sam

[GoCubsGo]

16. Yup.

Hyatt/Current also made agreements with KO that they didn't keep. Like providing decent facilities where he could air his show without the lights going out in the middle of it. I swear, some people around here think Keith held a gun to Al Gore's head, forced Gore to hire him, and forced him to pay Keith his hefty salary. It's ridiculous.

[SalviaBlue]

17. I agree Samantha.

I miss Keith.

[Botany]

20. I was a big Keith fan but no more

I will always be thankful for Keith having the courage to cover Ohio 2004 but I
have heard and read too much about his history to hold him blameless in
what happened @ and with Current. Every place he has worked @ has Keith
being a pain in the ass stories and none of those businesses ever want him back.

He was a pioneer @ ESPN in his coverage and snark but they want nothing to do w/
him the same goes with Fox, MSNBC, and NBC. Current wanted to build a network
around him but he was petulant and less then helpful. When they asked him to do
election night coverage during the primaries he said no and his making fun of the
lighting problems w/ his set was really low rent.

I don't know but I wonder if this settlement is why Al Gore sold the network in order to
get some cash to pay off K.O..

[Samantha]

24. A lot of the adverse publicity that came out about this situation was leaked by Current

Some of the people who "reported" on the leaks were very good friends with insiders there. Current was the first to start leaking the snark. It is not difficult when suddenly a reporter gets some little-known information to track his or her historical friendships. I did this at the time and it was not difficult to figure out who was doing the leaking.

Current made bad decisions, particularly Hyatt on labor issues (you should read up on his background before you start criticizing Keith Olbermann because there is absolutely NOTHING in Olbermann's background that compares with Hyatt's, it is that bad, that offensive). And the fact remains their numbers went down severely once they fired Olbermann. They never recovered from that and their advertising dollars sank too.

So I guess we will just see this differently. That is okay.

Sam

[jeff47]

7. Your title is wrong

He did not settle for $50m. He claimed $50m in damages, but a settlement would be much lower than that.

[amuse bouche]

14. I told the OP that to no avail

It was a 50 million lawsuit and I think he settled for 5 million

[davidpdx]

30. That sounds about right

Considering both sides would have had to spend a bundle on lawyers. Now having to litigate in court probably sides saved at least $10 million.

[Paulie]

23. Rules for LBN state you must quote the title from the source

Don't blame the poster.

Edit

Statement of Purpose

Post the latest news from reputable mainstream news websites and blogs. Important news of national interest only. No analysis or opinion pieces. No duplicates. News stories must have been published within the last 12 hours. Use the published title of the story as the title of the discussion thread.

[jeff47]

39. I'm not. I'm wanting people who read the post to know. (nt)

[Coyote_Bandit]

8. Olbermann?

Pffft.

I was perfectly happy to turn the asshole off during the 2008 primaries. Nearly 5 years later, I have not missed him or his commentary.

Given his penchant for preferring some democrats over others I think perhaps he is best suited for working the sports desk.

But I suspect with his work history and his oversized ego that he is considerably less employable than he used to be.

[AnnieK401]

9. When your last job ended with a huge lawsuit

employers might be reluctant to hire you.

[Cleita]

13. I think the only way he will get another job is to own his own

station. Maybe he needs to set up a website and webcast and let it go at that.

[otohara]

32. I Sued Clear Channel

my attorneys thought I had a good case until everyone lied in order to keep their jobs.

Of course I was just a peon asst. to the boss.

David Sirota once said in an e-mail response to me, I know who you are....and a year later, Clear Channel fired him.
I'm sure they settled with him and gave him a decent check on the way out. Not so for the old disabled gal they treated
like shit.

But you're right, even if I wanted to work in radio again, no one would touch me. Happens everyday in broadcasting, people get fired and only the on-air folks walk away with this kind of dough in a lawsuit.

I hope he chokes on his 50 million

[amuse bouche]

35. The OP is misleading

The suit was for 50 but he settled. I think it was for 5

No worries about him choking. He's doing fine

[klyon]

11. so who will pay?

new owners or old owners?

[Mr.Bill]

12. Is it possible that Al Jazeera

took this liability on when they bought Current TV?

[otohara]

15. Grossly Overpaid

all of em....

[harmonicon]

29. I'm trying to imagine explaining this to a rural farmer in a poor country.

You'd have to start buy explaining that there's a guy who got paid a lot of money to yell about sports and/or anything else he'd like. All of the nuances involved in even explaining that would take a lifetime.

I remember around the time that NPR fired Bob Edwards they revealed their various salaries. So this was probably ten years ago or more, but I remember the highest paid person at all of NPR made hundreds of thousands a year. I think it was Bob Edwards, and it wasn't a small amount, but half a million at absolute max, maybe a fraction of that.

I don't understand how the salaries can reach insane levels when there are really qualified people willing to do the work for much less. While I assume Ray Suarez got a healthy pay bump moving from NPR to PBS, I doubt he's making millions, though he is millions of times better than anyone on one of the other networks.

[yellowcanine]

38. Bob Edwards had class that KO will never achieve in his lifetime.

Because KO does not learn from his mistakes. Mostly because he doesn't think he makes mistakes - it is always someone else's fault.

[olddots]

18. Current TV was kind of like Pacifica Radio

under funded and full of very smart people who can be very passive aggressive =a nightmare.
I like Keith because he blows it out his butt ,he too was a sports caster and he loves the game of politics .Having come from a well funded G.E. owned station to a place where money was very tight was a mistake but he needed a job .
Law firms will see most of the money ,Gore lands on his feet ,Keith will do whatever and who knows what will happen with # 358 on sat.
I didn't like the way current didn't mention Keith's exit it was like Air America trashing their best talent with no mention .
MSNBC is what it is ,Amy Goodman can be found on the same station as Thom Hartman -----I know who are they ???????

[ProgressiveProfessor]

19. One 1%er paying off another 1%er

not sure there is anything to celebrate there in the least

[Tx4obama]

21. Now that the lawsuit is over he can come back to MSNBC :) n/t

[amuse bouche]

22. Someone

on twitter just told me he was coming back to MSNBC to do a sports show.


Don't know if it's true. I am waiting for a confirmation link

[Politicub]

26. Whoa. $50m???

[amuse bouche]

34. The OP is misleading

The lawsuit was for 50 but he settled, for I think 5

[McCamy Taylor]

27. Does Al Jazera have 50 million? Gore sold Current, didn't he?

Someone help me here. I can't get the Guardian link to open.

[McCamy Taylor]

28. With 50 million, he can start his own production company and do documentaries.

Aquarians don't commit. Going the Michael Moore route would probably be easier on everyone, including the fans who want to see him work--and the networks, which don't want to get burned.

[amuse bouche]

33. The OP is misleading

The lawsuit was for 50 but settled. I think it was for 5.

A couple of us told the OP but they never came back to fix it

[and-justice-for-all]

36. KO was outstanding, miss him on the telly...

"The political whore house known as fox news..." LOVE IT!

[malibea]

40. Everybody gets a turn- and then are turned out!

Nobody stays on top forever; KO has played out and now he must go just like the rest of them/us. Some are better than others- but they ALL must go nevertheless. I had to go too- you will also! It's called DEVELOPMENT; some would refer to it as PROGRESS! Remember the world must go on- it must keep turning and it can not, and will not, stop for anything or anybody.

BTW, I wasn't given $50M to leave, so I consider KO very lucky in the end. This way KO can continue to write and conduct research, something I think he is very good at doing and probably wants to spend more time doing.

Also, he probably has enough money now to contribute to purchasing a network himself. In other words, I am sure that KO will be just fine and I don't feel any pity or sympathy for him. It definitely could be worse: shrug: