To repeat: "Donny Deutsch Off the Air after Criticism of Keith Olbermann." That's straight from Chris Ariens at TVNewser. In other words, Deutsch took a shot at Olbermann, and now Deutsch is gone.
So while it's fun to watch the various spin-explanations put forth by MSNBC flacks, as recorded by Mediaite's Steve "Krak" Krakauer, here:
An MSNBC spokesperson told TVNewser “Deutsch was going to be off the rest of this week due to a personal issue,” but this seems to contradict what MSNBC spokesperson Jeremy Gaines told the New York Times. “The segment did not go unnoticed and we’re dealing with it internally,” he said.
The obvious reality, as exhaustively reported by the New York Times' Brian Stelter, is that Olbermann wanted Deutsch's head on a plate, and so he got it. Anybody who believes Olby's explanation is obviously destined to get taken to the cleaners:
In a reply to an e-mail message from The New York Times, Mr. Olbermann said: “Your account is entirely untrue. Your e-mail is the first I am hearing of any of this. What I know of what happened is this: Phil Griffin phoned me yesterday enraged at what was on that show and I didn’t disagree with him.” Mr. Griffin is the president of MSNBC.
But obviously Stelter doesn't accept Olbermann's denial. And nobody else should.
Indeed, it's obvious that Olbermann wears the pants at MSNBC. Right, Phil Griffin?
The Cable Gamer has made the point for a long time that MSNBC is playing with fire when it lets Olbermann run the network--and visibly run the network. Olbermann has succeeded in hiring Rachel Maddow, and in getting both David Shuster and Dan Abrams pushed out. It's not possible for talent to run a network, unless the network is content to be the tool of a single ego--or a single egomaniac.
