Keith Olbermann Reminds Twitter MSNBC Didn’t Want Him Back After Rachel Maddow Unveils New Format: ‘I Tried’
After Rachel Maddow informed her viewers Monday she would only host her show once a week beginning next month, Keith Olbermann reminded Twitter MSNBC rebuffed his advances for a return.
Maddow returned to her eponymous show Monday following a two-month hiatus where she worked on other projects.
“I said when I left before that I might eventually be taking another hiatus later on this year,” Maddow said. “That things were fluid, we’d be taking it one step at a time. That’s also true-ish.”
She then confirmed MSNBC would be without a permanent host Tuesdays through Fridays for the foreseeable future.
“I will be here this month, Monday through Thursday nights, and then starting next month, starting in may, I’m gonna be here weekly,” she said. “I’m gonna be here on Monday nights, again, to give myself just more time to work on some of the other stuff that I’ve got cooking for MSNBC and NBC.”
Olbermann took to Twitter to remind his followers he lobbied for a spot on the network — which shed one-quarter of its viewers in Maddow’s spot while she was away.
The left-wing commentator, who was fired by MSNBC in 2011, shared a thread from March 17 in which he documented how talks between he and the network about a reconciliation fell apart. His message seemed simple: MSNBC did not want him. despite the fact he would arguably draw in viewers.
He commented: “Relevant again, in light of tonight’s @msnbc #Maddow news. I tried.”
Relevant again, in light of tonight’s @msnbc #Maddow news.
I tried. https://t.co/6N86jM55L6
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) April 12, 2022
The thread Olbermann shared contained an explanation to reports last month that Olbermann wanted to first fill-in for Maddow while she was away. She vetoed that idea, the Daily Beast reported.
3) Puck’s report is filled with origins but misses key stuff and gives some plausibility to the @NBCUniversal gaslighting that CEO Jeff Shell + News Chair Cesar Condé had no real interest in my returning but kept talking to me for 2-1/2 years…just cuz🤦🏼♂️https://t.co/0C4yUt0r4Y
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) March 17, 2022
According to Puck News, Olbermann perviously targeted MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, whom he said was dragging the networks ratings down, in an email.
“Your 8 p.m. show is dying of thirst during a flood,” he reportedly said in an email to NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell.
Olbermann and Shell had been in talks in 2019 and 2020 about the potential for an Olbermann return to the network.
He told Puck News Shell more or less led him on during the talks. Puck reported MSNBC said the talks were never serious.
In the March 18, thread, Olbermann challenged the talks were not serious, but did confirm he and Maddow had a falling out in 2011, and have not spoken since.
18) Now that you’ve invested an hour, I’ll wrap this up with the note that AFTER it all collapsed I wrote a note to Rachel, a full apology for the divisions that have seen us not speak since 2011. It was hand-delivered and she confirmed she got and read it.
She never replied.
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) March 17, 2022
