Keith Olbermann Is A Raging Diva

I mean, really, how else do you possibly explain this:

Now that Dan Abrams has given up his MSNBC show to run the third-place cable news outlet, he might want to focus on the rising tensions between two of his prime-time personalities: Keith Olbermann and Rita Cosby.

Olbermann, whose “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” airs weeknights at 8, apparently has precious little respect for Cosby, whose “Rita Cosby: Live & Direct” airs at 10 p.m.

“Rita’s nice,” Olbermann wrote to a fan from his MSNBC E-mail account, “but dumber than a suitcase of rocks.” Yesterday Cosby retorted: “Keith got it wrong. I’m not that nice.”

But a Cosby intimate gasped when informed of Olbermann’s E-mail. “That’s incredibly disappointing,” he said.

An MSNBC spokesman didn’t dispute the authenticity of the months-old E-mail, which came to light this week after the recipient shared it with this column on condition of anonymity.

In his E-mail, Olbermann was also dismissive of then-MSNBC President Rick Kaplan, who left the network last week with six months to go on his three-year contract.

“And Kaplan?” Olbermann wrote to his fan. “He was the producer of that special last night — now known as the Kanye West Show.” It was a reference to an embarrassing incident during NBC’s Hurricane Katrina telethon on which the popular rapper departed from his script to claim President Bush “doesn’t care about black people.”

Olbermann, who didn’t comment yesterday, was said to be on vacation — though he managed to turn up Monday night at a book party for Al Gore at the American Museum of Natural History.

There, the media blog Jossip.com asked Olbermann — who was accompanied by “his self-described ‘friend’ Katie” — if he’ll now be answering to Abrams.

“I don’t answer to anybody,” Olbermann insisted.

We’ll see.

Listen, I’m no fan of Rita Cosby’s, but dear lord, where does Olbermann get off calling her stupid. Remind me again who has the incredibly idiotic segment that names someone the “Worst Person In The World” every single night?

(hat tip: Drudge)

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Greg Tinti
About Greg Tinti
Greg started the blog The Political Pit Bull in August 2005. He was OTB's Breaking News Editor from June through August 2006 before deciding to return to his own blog. His blogging career eventually ended altogether. He has a B.A. in Anthropology from The George Washington University,

Comments

  1. John Burgess says:

    Well, now that you’ve slandered divas, who are you going after next?

  2. Greg Tinti says:

    Ha.

  3. Brian says:

    Well, judging by the fact that you know who Keith Olbermann is, know what his segment is called, and are currently talking about it, I’d say he’s not as dumb as you think. As for being a diva, well, we’ve known that for years.

  4. McGehee says:

    Well, judging by the fact that you know who Keith Olbermann is…

    I was going to ask who he is, but then I realized that all this time I haven’t known who he is, I’ve been very happy. Why mess with success?

  5. Roger says:

    Have you ever watched Rita Cosby?

  6. Mark says:

    Rita Cosby covers the missing girl in Aruba story. Every night. For her entire show. That is all she ever talks about as I channel surf past.

  7. B. Minich, PI says:

    I love Keith Olberman! He’s great!

    Oh, you mean as a news show host.

    I was talking about Olberman the sports journalist. I love listening to him and Dan Patrick on ESPN Radio. They do well together, and talk about sports in a fairly knowledgable manner. I guess that’s where he got his start (Sportscenter!), and I think his years in news should have been spent more in sports.