Keith Olbermann on Current TV Firing: ‘I Screwed Up’
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Jason Kempin/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — In his first high profile appearance since being fired from Current TV, Keith Olbermann visited The Late Show with David Letterman Tuesday and admitted, “I screwed up.”
Olbermann then seemed to back away from taking the blame for his departure, drawing an analogy between himself and Current TV by saying, “You know, if you buy a $10 million chandelier, you should have a house to put it in. Just walking around with a $10 million chandelier isn’t going to do anybody a lot of good, and it’s not going to do any good to the chandelier.”
Letterman quipped in response, “You’re the chandelier?”
Olbermann had signed a five-year, $50 million contract to host the show Countdown on Current TV, former Vice President Al Gore’s ratings-challenged cable channel. Olbermann told Letterman he knew “as early as…last July” that he wanted out of Current TV.
Taking another shot at the stuggling cable channel, Olbermann said, “I was never even sure it was actually on television.”
Olbermann also said it’s now up to the courts to see what happens with the rest of his contract. “The nice judge will decide whether or not I get more of my money,” he said.
Letterman poked fun of Olbermann’s famous career flame-outs by presenting him with a business card in which he can spin a wheel and select what company appears near his name, including Olbermann’s former employers ESPN, MSNBC, and now Current TV.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio