Latest Twitter Victim: Keith Olbermann

[Spider]

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – ESPN has suspended Keith Olbermann for his controversial remarks about Penn State on Twitter.
On Twitter, Olbermann got into it with students and fans over the school’s annual pediatric cancer fundraiser called “Thon.”
The Penn State dance Marathon known as “Thon” began Friday night at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College and wound up at 4 p.m. Sunday.
Hundreds took part in the annual dance marathon over the weekend which raised more than $13 million for pediatric cancer research and care.
The fund’s mission is to conquer childhood cancer by assisting children treated at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital. The fund ensures that all expenses a family incurs are covered, from medical bills to gas and food money and household living expenses.
A student sent Olbermann a tweet saying “We Are!” with a link to the news on the Thon.
That’s when Olbermann responded “pitiful.”







http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2015...ermann-suspended-over-penn-state-thon-tweets/

 

[Robadat]

Read the linked article. That was the first in a series of tweets where he attacked students and alums of PSU. There are some subjects where it is better to keep your mouth closed than to throw insults around. Olbermann crossed that boundary when he degraded students involved in raising money for cancer victims. One week suspension from his show, fair penalty, hope he learns his lesson.

 

[Spider]

I don't know. Olbermann and I didn't see eye to eye a while back. Fucker blocked me.

 

[RealJorge300]

This comes back to one fundemental problem people have with Penn State. There was one person who was the monster, one person who was the sick bastard who took advantage of at-risk youths and abused them, and that person was Jerry Sandusky. There were many people who had chances to stop him, but didn't. But why do some people, like Olbermann, think that one man represents the thousands of students who have gone to and still go to Penn State. Penn State students have raised millions of dollars for charities through-out the years with THON and other prgrams. It's time for everyone to realize that one man does not represent the students of Penn State. Penn State alum are stars in their fields, some even literally such as Ty Burrell from Modern Family (who finished an MFA at the school). As a public figure, Olbermann needs to be the bigger man in this situation, regardless of his personal feelings on the subject. Which I think, based on his public comments here, are totally off base to begin with.
CRD, this was his attempt to mock the PSU chant of "We Are... Penn State!!". So Olbermann changes it to "We Are...Pitiful". A low blow at any time but especially low when considering this person was pointing out the amount of money raised for pediatric cancer research by PSU students through THON. He also continued the rant after that comment, continuing to bash PSU all the while the other tweeter was trying to highlight charity work done by PSU students. His suspension is totally warranted, in my personal opinion.

 

[RealJorge300]

CRD, This isn't about the fact that he could or couldn't say what he did. He most certainly has the right to say it. But the suspension is because he chose the wrong venue, wrong time to say it. The tweet he chose to comment on was in regards to the charity work of hundreds of students that raised money to fight pediatric cancer. This wasn't the place or time to turn into a debate about Sandusky and his actions. Plus, this wasn't in the context of his show, this was on Twitter. This gets back to the debate about one excercising their freedom of speech in a responsible manner. You have the right to walk into a crowded movie theater and yell "Fire! Fire! FIRE!" at the top of your lungs. But if there isn't a real fire, there will be consequences for those actions. Same here. In this case, he was suspended from work for 3-4 days. This is exactly what O'Reilly and Limbaugh do....only they work for employers who allow their actions to continue. Olbermann works for a Sports Network, and the last thing they want to do is alienate a large, national fan base like that of PSU. So they chose to not allow him to go without consequences for his actions.
Also, if this was the only tweet he made, maybe it blows over, but he continued to insult the poster even as he tried to explain the nature of his original tweet, explain about the THON and the good it does. Olbermann instead of being the bigger man and acknowledging that yes, this was a good thing and the money raised was going to a very worthy cause, he chose to continue to express "his opinion". Which as I pointed out in my original post is misguided, and frankly wrong. His anger and vitriol is misplaced and it should be directed to the man who committed these crimes not against the students of the school, most of whom were still in diapers when these events were going on.

 

[RealJorge300]

Football programs have gotten the death penalty for proven offenses. The Freer Report made conclusions based on a preconceived outcome and not solely on the evidence collected. The Football program, and Joe Paterno did all that they were required to do by PA Law at the time of the incident. It was the 2 people facing criminal charges now who made errors in judgement that may have resulted in Sandusky staying free longer than he should have. Should JoePa and others been more diligent on following up, hindsight says yes. But at the time, it is the statement of one person versus the reputation of another. Sandusky, at the time, was loved by PSU students, fans and the community at large. His charity did many wonderful things for under privedlged youths. And we now know it allowed Sandusky to do horrible things to some of those same youths, but at the time, this man was seen as a shining light in the community. A facade he probably went out of his way to maintain in order to make any child who might come forward seem less likely to believed. And guess what, it worked. What does any of that have to do with the actual Football Program? Where did the Football program fail to do what was required? The NCAA rushed to judgement based on a faulty report and overstepped it's bounds with the sanctions against Paterno and PSU. THAT is why the wins are restored, that is why the sanctions are gone.
And don't forget, PSU still paid/is paying a $60 Million fine. That hasn't gone away. The only thing this judgement did was make sure the money stays is PA to help abused children within the state. Something the NCAA was opposed to up until a lawsuit wa filed against them. PSU was to pay this fine and the money would go anywhere the NCAA wanted, not to the state most directly effected by this monster. That's is the organization you are supporting here.
Show me where in Olbermann's tweet's he shows he isn't holding the students responsible? His first repsonse is to say they are "pitiful". Students who weren't even at the school when the scandal came to light and who weren't even out of diapers when it happened. And then he continued to insult the student body in his follow-up tweets. Not attacking the school, or the former President who is on trial...but the student(s) on twitter. So while you "doubt" he feels that way, his tweets say otherwise. He got off easy in my opinion, he still has a job to come back to.

 

[Spider]

Olbermann is a pompous ass. PSU was a safe (PC) target for him. The problem was Disney didn't like the fact he was using a cancer fundraiser for his snarky outlet.

 

[Robadat]

Olbermann's bosses have every right to censure their employee when his speech casts a negative light on their network. As Spider said, Disney did not like him taking potshots at people raising money for a worthwhile cause like pediatric cancer. He should be able to talk about the football program however he wants, since he is a sports commentator. But he shouldn't talk about students participating in a cancer fundraiser in a negative way, it makes ESPN and Disney look bad. They don't like that from their employees.
KO should be happy he only got a week off, he probably should have been fired. No doubt, he'll continue to act the asshat he is and get fired sooner or later anyway.