Thursday, November 30, 2017

Another tell

Garrison Keillor, expatriate:
“It’s astonishing that 50 years of hard work can be trashed in a morning by an accusation,” he said in a Facebook post Wednesday evening. “I always believed in hard work and now it feels sort of meaningless. Only a friend can hurt you this badly. I think I have to leave the country in order to walk around in public and not feel accusing glances.”
There is more to this story. From the Star Tribune article:
Although he stepped away from “Prairie Home,” Keillor retained a producer credit and continued to record his daily feature, “The Writer’s Almanac,” for syndication by MPR’s distribution arm, St. Paul-based American Public Media.

MPR said it would halt that feature. It also will separate itself from the Pretty Good Goods online catalog, which sells Keillor merchandise, and the website PrairieHome.org.

“I’m in shock,” new host Thile wrote on Twitter. “I know nothing beyond what’s contained in the MPR statement but I trust that the proper steps are being taken.”
Minnesota Public Radio wouldn't turn Keillor into a nonperson and disavow his brand entirely if there weren't. If Keillor needs to leave the country, it's not because an ambivalent mob is at his door. Keillor was the biggest cash cow MPR has ever had, and likely ever will have. The people on the MPR board are all highly experienced business executives. The board wouldn't cut ties with someone as important as Keillor has been to MPR based on a hearsay single incident. And Keillor knows that. There's something else going on. We won't find out what it is right away, but we will find out. Stay tuned.

2 comments:

3john2 said...

I enjoyed PHC back in the day, and still get the daily Writer's Almanac emails for the poems, but as much as I liked the News From Lake Woebegone, I didn't like Keillor's books. After a couple of them I just stopped; there were none of the warm-fuzzies, just the cold-nasties. Keillor put the "aggressive" into passive-aggressive.

3john2 said...

"Well look who's coming, through that door
Seems like we've met somewhere before,
Hello victim...."