From The Daily Beast, following Olberman's latest termination: Where Current management viewed Olbermann as a chronic complainer who had clashed with the bosses before leaving his previous jobs at MSNBC and ESPN, the liberal commentator came to believe that he had joined a rinky-dink operation, even if the channel was committed to paying him $50 million over five years. On Aug. 2, 2011, according to emails reviewed by The Daily Beast, Olbermann’s manager, Michael Price, sent Hyatt a list of about 40 “deficiencies” that needed to be corrected. Six days later, Price told Hyatt that the problems required “immediate attention” and that “we are not aware of any demonstrable effort to address the issues.” What is clear from the correspondence is that the relationship was dissolving amid a flurry of mutual recriminations. (Former VP) Gore had welcomed Olbermann as the new face of a little-watched network, anointing him chief news officer and giving him an equity stake in the operation. Gore had dealt with big egos in politics, but he and Hyatt told colleagues they had never dealt with anyone quite like Olbermann.* On the few occasions when Olbermann wrote to Gore, the onetime presidential candidate sent back polite but vague notes that essentially referred the questions to Hyatt. *Note: This man worked with Bill Clinton, closely, for some 8+ years while he was the sitting President of the United States. You know, the guy who had an intern fellate him while on the phone with various members of Congress....from The Oval Office. And Olberman's ego proved to be even larger than HIS. The principal beef of Current executives is that the highly paid Olbermann often didn’t show up for work, missing 19 of 41 days in January and February. The host’s absence was especially noticeable on the nights of the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, when he was asked to anchor the channel’s coverage. Olbermann felt the technical glitches plaguing his program cast doubt on the feasibility of live election coverage. According to people familiar with the correspondence, Current executives were exasperated when, on Feb. 27, Price wrote that “Keith is planning to take vacation days,” including on March 5—the day before Super Tuesday. The impasse went well beyond his attendance record. Current officials were rankled that on the nights that he was off, Olbermann wouldn’t allow his staffers to promote Countdown or its guest hosts, even through Twitter updates. Even the subject of internal communications was contentious. Some at Current were miffed when Olbermann refused to talk to certain executives except through his lawyer or agent; his team believed they were following procedures set down by Hyatt. No issue was too small to precipitate a fight. A continuous argument over which car service would ferry Olbermann, who doesn’t drive, was emblematic of the deteriorating situation. Olbermann wound up using eight different car services, finding fault with each one, sometimes objecting when drivers talked to him. Oh, and this "rinky-dink" operation - which, no doubt had its problems....as any new start-up would be expected to encounter - was paying him $10M per year, and had made him a stakeholder in the company, itself. I love me some liberal. Link: Keith Olbermann
john gibson has said many times when he worked with him at msnbc that olbermann would call in saying that he wasn't going to work that day for whatever reason. gibson refers to olbermann as "bathtub boy", because he said that olbermann would threaten msnbc by saying he's not going to get out of the tub and come to work unless they met his demands. olbermann is a huge bag of D, who i would love to see get punched in the face.
Keith Olbermann drove Current TV crazy with complaints about limo services and lax work ethic, sources say - NYPOST.com love this: Olbermann said “good hunch” to a Twitter follower who wrote: “My hunch is Current banked on you to build their ratings, but they didn’t deliver on resources to upgrade your show.”
