As reported by Consequence of Sound on November 29th, Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) fired the creator and host of radio show A Prairie Home Companion Garrison Keillor due to sexual misconduct allegations. MPR has also released a statement stating that they will also change the name of the radio program which is currently hosted by Mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile.
Keillor, however, has responded about his firing in a rather surprising manner. He wrote in an email to the Star Tribune that “getting fired is a real distinction in broadcasting and I’ve waited fifty years for the honor. All of my heroes got fired. I only wish it could’ve been for something more heroic.” As one can tell from this excerpt of the email, Keillor appears to show no regret for his actions.
Keillor has also offered his side of the allegations. He claims that he “put [his] hand on a woman’s bare back. [He] meant to pat her back after she told [him] about her unhappiness and her shirt was open and [his] hand went up it six inches. She recoiled. [He] apologised and sent her an email of apology later and she replied that she had [forgiven] him and not to think about it.”
As the day passed, Keillor soon realized the seriousness of his dismissal and took a different approach, this time through Facebook. On the night of November 29th, Keillor wrote “it’s astonishing that 50 years of hard work can be trashed in a morning by an accusation. I always believed in hard work and now it feels sort of meaningless. Only a friend can hurt you this badly.”
He, however, soon retracted that post from his Facebook page and replaced it with a status in which he claims love for his life as well as what he would like to do considering his future. He writes, “he had just had a good conversation with my dear friend who I am married to, on the subject of What Do We Really Need in Life. It’s very simple. I need her and I need to have work to do and I need to live someplace where we can both be happy. I have about ten years of work to do, sitting in my computer. I want to write a couple movies, write a weekly column (preferably humorous), write a book called Gratitude. I think we should move east and leave the past behind.”
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