Media

Keith Olbermann’s Eccentricities

Says no one at MSNBC can tweet about him.

The new issue of New York Magazine has a long piece about network news, but it's worth skipping to the bits about Keith Olbermann. Author Gabriel Sherman notes that Olbermann takes “eccentricities to extremes.” According to one story, Olbermann has instructed producers to communicate with him by leaving paper notes in a small box outside his office. According to another, he once blew up at David Shuster after he tweeted that he’d be filling in for Olbermann on Countdown because Olbermann was sick. An executive producer later told Shuster that there’s a rule against tweeting about Olbermann. He also talks trash on one of his nemeses, Dan Abrams, the former general manager of MSNBC. “Dan never really ran it,” Olbermann says. “He’s always tried to ride my coattails.” According to Sherman, Abrams wanted to rebrand MSNBC with the tagline, “MSNBC: Keepin’ It Real.”