Keith Olbermann Suspends Twitter Account After Attacks Over Handling Of Assange Rape Allegations

Keith Olbermann announced Thursday that he is suspending his Twitter account in response to sustained and, in his opinion, unwarranted attacks over his handling of the rape allegations surrounding WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Assange's legal troubles have been rife with confusion and controversy about the nature of the crimes he has allegedly committed. Many have urged people not to dismiss the rape allegations as merely politically motivated, while others have said they are a smokescreen for a war against WikiLeaks.

One of the people making the claim that the case has been overblown is filmmaker Michael Moore, who also contributed $20,000 for Assange's bail. On Tuesday, Moore explained why he had contributed the money. He also appeared on that night's "Countdown." In response, the website TigerBeatDown harshly criticized Moore for writing that the allegations against Assange were "strange" and that people should "never, ever believe the 'official story.'" The site launched a Twitter campaign to get Moore to apologize. TigerBeatDown also criticized Olbermann for retweeting a link by Bianca Jagger which dismissed the charges and possibly revealed the identities of Assange's accusers.

Olbermann began receiving a flood of heated criticism on Twitter for hosting Moore and for retweeting Jagger's post. In response, Olbermann apologized for any offense he had caused, but denied that he had done anything else wrong, writing on Wednesday:

Rape has touched my family, directly and savagely, and if anybody thinks I have addressed it without full sensitivity, then that assessment is the one that counts, and I apologize. But these accusations that I "revealed" an accuser's identity by retweeting Bianca Jagger's link, or that I 'shamed' an accuser by asking a question about the prosecution of a man governments are trying to bury, or that I do not 'understand' charges that have yet to be presented in their final form, reflect exactly the kind of rushing to judgment of which I'm accused, and merit the same kind of apology I have just given.

This did not stop the criticism, however, and by Thursday, Olbermann announced that he had had enough. He said that he would suspend his account until the "frenzy" had stopped (read from the bottom up):

Olbermann also removed the picture from his Twitter icon.

Comments

[Marie Russell-Barker]

12:11 PM on 12/27/2010

I watched that program with Keith and Michal Moore, and thought nothing of it. There were nothing improper about it. Mr. Moor did most of the talking Keith only asked the questions. People all ways gravitate toward those they consider the underdog. One can dis agree with out getting angry with the person who brings the news or do things we thank is right or wrong. In this case Keith was only bring the news as he saw it. As for me the Man in questions is nothing more than a thief, hiding behind the News, am I saying that he is not telling the truth no what I am saying is that I believe that each of us should ask the question "If I print this or say this will it put others in harms way will my story help or hinder some one. Instead this man used his information as a sort of black mail, stating that if anything happen to him other more drastic stories would be released. Freedom of the Press I think not. Say what it is that you are going to say and let that be it. But I most certainly do not hold Moor or Obermann of any kind of standard other than their beliefs. I would not attack them just because they believe this is based on Freedom of the Press instead of a rape.

[Tara Dass]

05:19 AM on 12/22/2010

Thank You Kieth for supporting freedom of the press, Please continue to stand strong!
Viva Assange!!!

[LeeCalif]

08:19 PM on 12/21/2010

Support Wikileaks !

[Alice de Tocqueville]

11:26 AM on 12/20/2010

Someone posted 'thank god' for all of MSNBC's commentators, and they are certainly refreshing compared to all the other TV infotainment, but where were they when 131 veterans and others, including Daniel Ellsberg, chained themselves to the White House fence last Thursday, and were arrested to protest the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? The visuals alone are priceless, Ellsberg has lately been in the news, and yet there was an entire blackout of this action on all the MSM, TV and newspapers. Odd, considering that Sarah Palin hardly bats an eyelash w/out making the Olberman show.

So, I want to urge everyone who would be well-informed to be sure to pay attention to Democracy Now.org, Flashpoints.net, Truthout.org, Buzzflash.com, Counterpunch.org, Counterspin.org, zmag.org, Indymedia.org, and there are others. These are all completely free of commercial sponsors, are listener- and reader-sponsored, and they are much more information- and fact-rich than anything you'll find on TV. These are where Jeremy Scahill and Dahr Jamail got their start, for example, years before their reporting got picked up by this site. You will never be surprised by anything in the MSM again.

[BernieKeating]

10:25 AM on 12/20/2010

If people were flooding my Twitter account with the same 42 comments over and over, I'd suspend it.

[The-JuRK]

03:33 AM on 12/20/2010

Wow. So Olbermann said something stupid on Twitter and he suspends his account.

Too bad that doesn't work for this show.

[Ucan2]

07:45 PM on 12/19/2010

I will add my 2 cents for what it's worth.

When the person who's responsiblity is to report the news suddenly becomes the news story, more likely than not the journalist did not handle the story properly.

Rather you support the casue of WikiLeaks or not, when watching the segment with Moore and KO I knew there would be some blow back after Moore dismissed the claims of the two women as political.

The real Edward R. Murrow would have challenged him on that assertion.

[JohnnyAce Okeke]

03:10 AM on 12/20/2010

Problem: It's been proven that Anna Ardin and Sofia Wilen fabricated the charges.

http://www.feminisnt.com/2010/the-feminist-left-versus-julian-assange-how-a-fanatical-belief-in-every-sex-crime-allegation-hurts-everyone/ {{-_-}}

[GustavoRejivik]

03:56 PM on 12/19/2010

O'Reilly gives hundreds of thousands to charity ... how bout Keith?? Actions work better than words, Keith is all words, Keith should be his own "worsest person in the World, worsest"

[JohnnyAce Okeke]

03:11 AM on 12/20/2010

I guess putting on free health clinics and giving those denied free health care coverage on his show and encouraging his viewers to donate means nothing. {{-_-}}

[mancoff]

01:21 PM on 12/19/2010

Interesting that Keith, whom I disagree with alot of times but admire greatly, gets ciriticizm, takes it, listens to it and addresses it with some kind of action. Whether you like what you did or not, he did something to show he care about people think. In the meanwhile, people like Limbaugh, Hannity, and Beck don't give a dam about about what they say,who it affects, whether is has merit or fact or any truth to it and never, ever, apologise or take corrective action. That's the difference between the ethics and standards of most cable media and the lack of both on Fox.

[nothing2fear]

04:42 PM on 12/19/2010

That's because Limbaugh, Hannity, and Beck are just there to stir it up. They have no insight and no solutions.

F&F

[westcountyPA]

07:01 PM on 12/19/2010

And they have no responsibilities.

[williamina]

09:17 PM on 12/19/2010

you appear to be one of those people that helped the U of M study beat the faux

[jorjan]

12:51 PM on 12/19/2010

Thank God for Keith, Ed, Chris, Rachel and Lawrence. At least there are a few actual journalists left. Pretty soon they will probably have to go underground because of the Comcast merger. Corporate America has spoken and they are not in the habit of telling us the truth you know.

[Tara Dass]

05:22 AM on 12/22/2010

So maybe they go to work for Wikileaks?

[jorjan]

12:44 PM on 12/19/2010

I find it amazing that a lot of people side with our government re WikiLeaks. The same government that will make slaves of us all. But then again these are probably the same people that voted the GOP back in power in the House. Where were these same people when Valerie Plame was outed? That was ok? But outing how corrupt our government is isn't ok? I guess it was ok that our government lied to us re the invasion of Iraq? Wake up people your government is taking you down the garden path to oblivion.

[nothing2fear]

04:48 PM on 12/19/2010

I think it has something to do with the Stockholm syndrome myself.

[NickFun]

12:01 PM on 12/19/2010

Oh my God! Keith Olbermann has suspended his Twitter account! Whatever will we do? Does he think he's punishing us by suspending his account? Hey, Keith, you screwed up. Admit it. If you define 'rape' as what Assange did to those women then you might as well lock me up too. I haven't heard a word that the sex was anything but consensual. Maybe the women are angry because he didn't use a condom but neither of them are pregnant and, as far as I know, he didn't give either one a disease. Lighten up!

[BeckyJustice]

03:47 PM on 12/19/2010

Actually, Keith "didn't" define rape as what Assange did to those women. He had much the same take on it as you do?

[tulane-grad]

09:48 AM on 12/19/2010

Circulating the names of possible r@pe victims; leave it to Oldbittermann to defend the indefensible.

1) If he released confidential information without knowing it, then his professionalism is in question.

2) If he knew it, then maybe he is the "Worst Person in the World!"

[JohnnyAce Okeke]

03:13 AM on 12/20/2010

The names were in circulation since August. There wasn't anything confidential about it @ all.

http://www.feminisnt.com/2010/the-feminist-left-versus-julian-assange-how-a-fanatical-belief-in-every-sex-crime-allegation-hurts-everyone/

{{-_-}}

[tulane-grad]

03:54 PM on 12/20/2010

Everyone knew Valerie Plame's identity too, but Keith went on many a tirade about the handling of it. So i'm afraid Oldbittermann would disagree with you; unless of course he's a hypocrite.

[desmonddaily]

08:49 AM on 12/19/2010

Why is Olbermann taking the easy out. Fight fire with fire. The whole rape thing is a smokescreen, a starw man designed to shift the emphasis fom the acts of the Govt and the fact that Wikileaks may have actually done the country a favor.

[funkyartist]

10:29 PM on 12/18/2010

I can understand why Keith Olbermann got frustrated. I posted my concerns about the timing of the Assange rape accusations on Twitter and I got into an argument with someone who strongly believes that Julian Assange is a rapist and he kept on goading me. I finally ended it because he couldn't be reasoned with plus, when I asked him why he didn't have the same passion for Bradley Manning like he did with Assange's accusers, he seemed to imply that Manning deserved to be put into solitary confinement without being convicted. (So much for his supposed interest in justice.) As for me, I prefer to let the Swedish courts decide on Assange's guilt or innocence.

Unlike Keith Olbermann, I'm just going to ignore those who seemed to be obsessed over the Assange rape case and not let them get under my skin. Twitter is just not worth having a meltdown over. I hope Keith Olbermann realizes that.