Keith Olbermann wants his payday to the tune of $70 million — but the network he’s suing is laughing its face off at his claim.
Get fired, collect $70 million — that’s what Keith Olbermann wants, anyway. The journalist was canned from Current TV last week and since then he has engaged in a pretty public battle to maintain his rep. Now he’s suing the Al Gore-led channel for an insane amount of money.
In his lawsuit, lawyers for Olbermann claim that “After being enticed to leave MSNBC and come to Current with promise of editorial control, freedom from corporate influence and the professional support to produce a high-caliber political commentary show of the type his viewers have come to expect, Keith Olbermann was disheartened to discover Al Gore, Joel Hyatt and the management of Current are no more than dilettantes portraying entertainment industry executives.”
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The suit also states that the journalist’s “public termination” was “the latest in a series of increasingly erratic and unprofessional actions undertaken by Current’s senior management.”
And for that, he said he is owed a cool $70 million.
However, the network calls Olbermann’s claims total BS and says he was actually fired for “serial, material breaches of his contract, including the failure to show up at work, sabotaging the network and attacking Current and its executives.”
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A network rep added, “As the old adage says: ‘When the law is on your side, you argue the law. When the facts are on your side, you argue the facts. When neither the law nor the facts are on your side, you pound the table.'”
“We will be happy to engage on the law and the facts in the appropriate forum. It is well established that over his professional career Mr. Olbermann has specialized in pounding the table.”
“We hope Mr. Olbermann understands that when it comes to the legal process, he is actually required to show up,” the rep concluded. Zing!
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