Stars of US TV and radio sacked after sex accusations
Garrison Keillor dismissed from popular programme, as is Matt Lauer, veteran host of the Today show
GARRISON KEILLOR, creator of the US radio show A Prairie Home Companion, was sacked last night over an accusation of “inappropriate behaviour”. Keillor, 75, started the show in 1974 and it went on to become the most listened-to entertainment programme on US public radio.
A spokesman for Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) said: “We are terminating contracts with Garrison Keillor and his private media companies after recently learning of allegations of his inappropriate behaviour with an individual who worked with him.”
Jon Mctaggart, the president of MPR, added: “While we appreciate the contributions Garrison has made to MPR, and to all of public radio, we believe this decision is the right thing to do and is necessary to continue to earn the trust of our audiences, employees and supporters of our public service.”
Keillor said he had been dismissed over “a story that I think is more interesting and more complicated than the version MPR heard”, but he gave no further details.
In an email, he added: “It’s some sort of poetic irony to be knocked off the air by a story, having told so many of them myself, but I’m 75 and don’t have any interest in arguing about this.”
Keillor later said the accusation stemmed from an incident in which he put his hand on a woman’s bare back while trying to console her.
In an email to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, he said: “I meant to pat her back… and her shirt was open and my hand went up it about six inches.
“She recoiled. I apologised. I sent her an email of apology later, and she replied that she had forgiven me and not to think about it. We were friends. We continued to be friendly right up until her lawyer called.”
He added: “If I had a dollar for every woman who asked to take a selfie with me, and who slipped an arm around me and let it drift down below the beltline, I’d have at least a hundred dollars.”
MPR said a single allegation was made last month and it had brought in an outside legal firm to conduct an independent investigation. It did not know of any other allegations.
Matt Lauer, the host of NBC’S Today show, was also dismissed yesterday after a colleague accused him of “inappropriate sexual behaviour” in a “detailed complaint”, the network said.