Not NPR! “Prairie Home Companion”’s Garrison Keillor Fired After Sexual Misconduct Claims Emerge - Sensationalist Headlines

[url=https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-us-canada-42174257]Source: BBC[/url] [img]http://www.theredrocksamphitheater.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/garrison-keillor_26099.jpg[/img] [quote]Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) said a colleague on Keillor's former show, A Prairie Home Companion, had accused him of inappropriate behaviour. Mr Keillor told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that the claim stems from an occasion when he put his hand on a woman's bare back to console her. The station said it did not know of any allegations involving any other staff. "I meant to pat her back after she told me about her unhappiness, and her shirt was open and my hand went up it about six inches [15 cm]", he told the newspaper in an email. "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," he added. "We were friends. We continued to be friendly right up until her lawyer called." He did not say when the alleged incident occurred. MPR said it would: • end its contracts with Mr Keillor and his companies • stop broadcasting his syndicated show The Writer's Almanac • stop rebroadcasting highlights from A Prairie Home Companion • change that programme's name • separate from an online catalogue and website associated with him[/quote] Haven’t heard how NPR itself is responding, but Jesus Christ, I loved his show when he still hosted it. The way it reads sounds like it might be an overreaction though, but maybe that’s my nostalgic bias. Guess I’ll want to hear the accuser’s side of this as well.

shit i guess Big Mouth was onto something

They had to kick out an editor a few weeks back for alligations. They'll probably cover this news tomorrow on air throughout the day. They're very forward with making it a reason to address sexual harassment and detail how they handle it.

the solution now is to never console someone, let them become a miserable person giving a bigger excuse to push them away.

[quote]"I meant to pat her back after she told me about her unhappiness, and her shirt was open and my hand went up it about six inches [15 cm]", he told the newspaper in an email. "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," he added. "We were friends. We continued to be friendly right up until her lawyer called."[/quote] Wait WTF, there being seemingly innocent accident, claiming everything is alright and then taking things to court isn't acceptable behavior at all. This might not be all there is and usually I take claims of sexual harassment very seriously, on the face of it but this seems like an overreaction. And as much as I like more casual and less formal culture of modern days, in the olden days there were more clear guidelines what each person was allowed to do within propriety, so at least there was less chance of being blindsided by allegations of improper behavior. This hits a bit too close to home for comfort.

It's absolutely asinine that something like patting someone on the back can be considered sexual assault; [I]especially[/I] since the accused realized that it was not appreciated by the accuser, and formally apologized afterwards.

There's a difference between effective enforcement of sexual harrassment and assault rules, and a fucking witch hunt. We're in the midst of a witch hunt.

That's a bit extreme, I think it's more that the recent outbreak of accusations is a double-edged sword. On one hand women are more willing to speak out about harassment, but I'm afraid that companies are feeling a lot of pressure to take a hard stance every time and it's blowing up some of the smaller cases.

I'm all for increased reporting, but allegations now make you an instant pariah. I'm not sure how good it is going to be, it can easily turn toxic quick. It's like the military, where you are guilty until proven innocent.

Of course this is all his word against hers, but I doubt it was anything more than that. I mean, this is Garrison Keillor for god’s sake, dude’s about as wholesome and down to earth as rhubarb pie. Unless there was a serious grievance, I can’t imagine why anyone would want to destroy his career.