{"id":90199,"date":"2017-11-30T13:01:20","date_gmt":"2017-11-30T17:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=90199"},"modified":"2017-11-30T13:03:27","modified_gmt":"2017-11-30T17:03:27","slug":"shocking-garrison-keillor-may-leave-usa-after-sex-allegation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=90199","title":{"rendered":"SHOCKING: Garrison Keillor May Leave USA After Sex Allegation"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>&#8216;I think I have to leave the country,&#8217; Garrison Keillor says after firing<\/h1>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"article-subhead\">Saying he may move, Keillor sees nation in the &#8220;grip of a mania.&#8221;<\/h3>\n<div class=\"article-featured-media-wrapper is-video \">\n<h5 class=\"article-featured-video-mod js-video-mod is-standalone-video\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"tease-video article-media__video\" src=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/video\/embed\/460983493\/?load_location=Article&amp;article_title=%27I%20think%20I%20have%20to%20leave%20the%20country%2C%27%20Garrison%20Keillor%20says%20after%20firing&amp;article_author=Neal%20Justin&amp;embed_site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.startribune.com&amp;sz=%2F7932%2FWebsite%2FWEB_Video%2FWEB_Video_User_Initiated&amp;page_level=Article&amp;auto_start=1&amp;section_name=TV%20%26%20Media&amp;secs=TV%20%26%20Media&amp;soft_load=1\" name=\"stribVideoEmbed\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><span class=\"tease-photo-caption toggle-photo-caption icn-video\"><br \/>\nMinnesota residents and fans of Garrison Keillor expressed<br \/>\nsadness and disappointment at news that he has been accused<br \/>\nof improper behavior.<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"article-share\">\n<div class=\"share__textsize\">\n<div class=\"share-icon\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"article-body resizeFont\">\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">&#8211;<br \/>\nGarrison Keillor, whose soothing voice and gentle humor helped define the world\u2019s view of Minnesota, has been dropped by Minnesota Public Radio for \u201cinappropriate behavior\u201d toward a co-worker.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">MPR said Wednesday it is severing all ties to the longtime host of radio\u2019s \u201cA Prairie Home Companion.\u201d The show, which he handed off last year to hand-picked successor Chris Thile, will be retitled \u2014 Keillor holds the trademark \u2014 and his old broadcasts no longer will be aired.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">Officials at the network would not comment beyond\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/mpr-statement-on-the-firing-of-garrison-keillor\/460818103\/\">a statement<\/a>\u00a0saying they were notified last month of allegations relating to Keillor\u2019s conduct while he was responsible for producing \u201cPHC.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">\u201cI put my hand on a woman\u2019s bare back,\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/read-garrison-keillor-s-full-email-to-the-star-tribune\/460827763\/\">he told the Star Tribune by e-mail<\/a>minutes after MPR\u2019s statement. \u201cI 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. She recoiled. I apologized. I sent her an email of apology later and she replied that she had forgiven me and not to think about it. We were friends. We continued to be friendly right up until her lawyer called.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 75-year-old humorist who\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/sun-is-setting-on-garrison-keillors-time-on-lake-wobegon\/382713261\/\">helped make MPR a powerhouse<\/a>\u00a0seemed more hurt, resigned and defensive than apologetic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">\u201cIt\u2019s astonishing that 50 years of hard work can be trashed in a morning by an accusation,\u201d he said in a Facebook post Wednesday evening. \u201cI always believed in hard work and now it feels sort of meaningless. Only a friend can hurt you this badly. I think I have to leave the country in order to walk around in public and not feel accusing glances.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stmedia.startribune.com\/images\/1agaryfb113017.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"525\" height=\"265\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">He later deleted that public comment and then, in a post to Facebook friends (including some journalists), said he had just had a good conversation \u201cwith my dear friend who I am married to, on the subject of What Do We Really Need in Life. It\u2019s very simple. I need her and I need to have work to do and I need to live someplace where we can both be happy. I have about ten years of work to do, sitting in my computer. I want to write a couple movies, write a weekly column (preferably humorous), write a book called Gratitude. I think we should move east and leave the past behind.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">\u00a0MPR details its decision<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">Although he stepped away from \u201cPrairie Home,\u201d Keillor retained a producer credit and continued to record his daily feature, \u201cThe Writer\u2019s Almanac,\u201d for syndication by MPR\u2019s distribution arm, St. Paul-based American Public Media.<span style=\"font-size: 12px;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-featured-gallery-mod js-gallery-mod gallery size-m\" data-use-hash=\"true\" data-length=\"25\">\n<div class=\"gallery-slideshow-mod js-gallery-modal js-feature-gallery\">\n<div class=\"gallery-image-item js-gallery-image-item gallery-image-item-1 is-active\">\n<div class=\"gallery-image-art\">\n<div class=\"expand-icn-wrapper gallery\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"gallery-image-img\" src=\"http:\/\/stmedia.stimg.co\/Garrison+gal061916+02.JPG?w=640&amp;h=488\" alt=\"Garrison Keillor rehearsed before his last show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville in 2016.\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-image-txt\">\n<h5><span class=\"gallery-image-credit\">LEILA NAVIDI \u2013 STAR TRIBUNE<\/span><\/h5>\n<div class=\"gallery-image-caption \">\n<p>Gallery: Garrison Keillor rehearsed before his last show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>MPR said it would halt that feature. It also will separate itself from the Pretty Good Goods online catalog, which sells Keillor merchandise, and the website PrairieHome.org.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m in shock,\u201d new host Thile wrote on Twitter. \u201cI know nothing beyond what\u2019s contained in the MPR statement but I trust that the proper steps are being taken.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cPrairie Home\u201d team is in New York City for three weekends of live shows beginning Saturday. Representatives refused to comment, but a Hawaii Public Radio e-mail said the working title is now \u201cThe Chris Thile Show\u201d and its host will address the situation in his monologue Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>MPR said it was aware of no similar allegations involving other staff, but \u201cthe investigation is still ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile we appreciate the contributions Garrison has made to MPR and to all of public radio, we believe this decision is the right thing to do and is necessary to continue to earn your trust and that of our employees,\u201d MPR President Jon McTaggart told members in an e-mail.<\/p>\n<p>Keillor later posted a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.garrisonkeillor.com\/index.html\">statement on his website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been fired over a story that I think is more interesting and more complicated than the version MPR heard,\u201d he said. \u201cMost stories are. It\u2019s some sort of poetic irony to be knocked off the air by a story, having told so many of them myself, but I\u2019m 75 and don\u2019t have any interest in arguing about this. And I cannot in conscience bring danger to a great organization I\u2019ve worked hard for since 1969.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am sorry for all the poets whose work I won\u2019t be reading on the radio and sorry for the people who will lose work on account of this. But my profound feeling is that of gratitude, especially to my wife Jenny, and for this painful experience that has brought us even closer together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He and Jenny Lind Nilsson, a violist for the Minnesota Opera, have been married since 1995. It is his third marriage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/standalone\/?c4694354\" width=\"512\" height=\"330\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><b>Garrison Keillor speaking in 1994 about sexual harassment.<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_ChapterHead\">\u2018Prairie Home\u2019 history<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">MPR was just two years old in 1969 when its founder, Bill Kling, hired Keillor as an announcer. Together they launched \u201cPrairie Home\u201d on July 6, 1974, with a live broadcast from Macalester College witnessed by a handful of people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">The show began airing nationwide in 1980 and grew into a hit that fueled MPR\u2019s growth into one of the nation\u2019s largest public radio operations. At its peak, Keillor drew 4 million listeners every week while serving as Minnesota\u2019s cultural ambassador, with tales of the mythical Lake Wobegon that skewered the state\u2019s work ethic, good-hearted earthiness and humble nature. He appeared on the cover of Time magazine. His book \u201cLake Wobegon Days\u201d sold more than 1 million copies in 1985. Playgirl named him one of the sexiest men in America.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">In his e-mail to the Star Tribune, he said \u201canyone who ever was around my show can tell you that I was the least physically affectionate person in the building. Actors hug, musicians hug, people were embracing every Saturday night left and right, and I stood off in the corner like a stone statue. If I had a dollar for every woman who asked to take a selfie with me and who slipped an arm around me and let it drift down below the belt line, I\u2019d have at least a hundred dollars. So this is poetic irony of a high order.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">A tireless writer, Keillor authored more than two dozen books, hosted cruises, contributed to major magazines and scripted a 2006 film, \u201cA Prairie Home Companion,\u201d a fictionalized story about the show with an all-star cast including Meryl Streep, Woody Harrelson and Lindsay Lohan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">He continued a busy schedule after leaving \u201cPrairie Home,\u201d touring the country with a similar live show \u2014 a performance Wednesday night in Pittsfield, Mass., was canceled \u2014 and writing occasional columns for the Washington Post News Service &amp; Syndicate. The service said it was taking the allegations \u201cseriously and is seeking more information about them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_ChapterHead\">Column defending Franken<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">Coincidentally, Keillor defended Minnesota Sen. Al Franken in a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/garrison-keillor-talk-of-franken-resigning-is-pure-absurdity\/460811583\/\">syndicated column this week<\/a>\u00a0after Los Angeles radio news anchor Leeann Tweeden reported that Franken kissed and groped her without her consent during a 2006 USO tour.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">\u201cHe did USO tours overseas when he was in the comedy biz,\u201d Keillor wrote. \u201cHe did it from deep in his heart, out of patriotism, and the show he did was broad comedy of a sort that goes back to the Middle Ages. \u2026 Miss Tweeden knew what the game was and played her role and on the flight home, in a spirit of low comedy, Al ogled her and pretended to grab her and a picture was taken. Eleven years later, a talk show host in L.A., she goes public with her embarrassment, and there is talk of resignation. This is pure absurdity and the atrocity it leads to is a code of public deadliness. No kidding.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">Keillor mentioned the Franken controversy in an e-mail to MPR News on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">\u201cI think the country is in the grip of a mania \u2014 the whole Franken business is an absurdity \u2014 and I wish someone [would] resist it,\u201d he wrote, \u201cbut I expect MPR to look out for itself, and meanwhile I feel awfully lucky to have hung on for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"desktop article-featured-media-wrapper is-video embedded \">\n<h5 class=\"article-featured-video-mod js-video-mod is-standalone-video\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"article-media__video\" src=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/video\/embed\/265622861\/?load_location=Not%20Set&amp;article_title=Garrison%20Keillor%20reflects%20on%20the%20art%20of%20performance&amp;article_author=Mark%20Vancleave&amp;embed_site=http:\/\/www.startribune.com&amp;sz=%2F7932%2FWebsite%2FWEB_Video%2FWEB_Video_User_Initiated&amp;page_level=Article&amp;section_name=&amp;soft_load=true\" name=\"stribVideoEmbed\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><span class=\"tease-photo-caption toggle-photo-caption icn-video\"><br \/>\nGarrison Keillor reflects on the art of the performance as<br \/>\n&#8220;Prairie Home&#8221; celebrated 40 years with a live show at<br \/>\nMacalester College in St. Paul.<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/garrison-keillor-fired-for-improper-behavior\/460802703\/#1\">http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/garrison-keillor-fired-for-improper-behavior\/460802703\/#1<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;I think I have to leave the country,&#8217; Garrison Keillor says after firing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=90199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90199\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=90199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=90199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=90199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}