ESPN’s Keith Olbermann apologized — in a really canned way — for naming a “pea-brained scumbag” hunter who shot a white turkey and calling on his followers “to make sure the rest of his life is a living hell.” Olbermann’s apology, however, totally overlooked the “nitwit clown” of a reporter whom he said should be fired for writing the story.
Plus, sports expert Olbermann somehow thought shooting a turkey during turkey season qualified as “trophy hunting.”
That was a week ago, but Salena Zito has written her reaction to the incident in the Washington Examiner, and she’s calling out Olbermann for being just another media elitist.
Imagine for a moment you are sitting at your desk in the newsroom when you find out that some celebrity has called for you to be fired from your job, because you reported a story on a local hunter who had bagged a white turkey. https://t.co/9czpCtSidh
— SalenaZito (@SalenaZito) April 2, 2019
Olbermann begins the tweet reinforcing the pop-culture brand of the elite that hunters and people from the South are slow and or stupid. He then goes on to show his ignorance of both hunting and journalism, wanting the reporter fired for doing his job. https://t.co/9czpCtSidh
— SalenaZito (@SalenaZito) April 2, 2019
Brian Broom, the reporter, engaged in the basic procedures of his own trade. “I had contacted Hunter Waltman after I saw posts on Facebook, interviewed him and he sent me photos. I found some biologists who were quite familiar with turkeys and got their opinions on it, and packaged it all together and put it out here.”
“It had quite a bit of success according to our metrics, then it started slowing down as you would guess, then Tuesday morning someone in our office had noticed that all of a sudden it had more and more concurrent views. We found that it was coming from a tweet.”
His immediate reaction was big traffic meant a lot of readers. That turned swiftly into deep concern for Hunter Waltman when he saw the threat.
…
So why does Olbermann get away with making bigoted stereotypes of hunters and reporters from Mississippi and threaten them on social media? Why are ESPN and Twitter fine with that? Probably because the people who sit in the boardrooms of ESPN and Twitter think Olbermann’s assessment of Mississippians is basically true.
As a side note, consider that most of the Democrats running for president want to abolish the Electoral College, essentially ensuring that Mississippians will have surrendered their voice to a handful of large urban centers.
I interned for the same company he worked for when I was in college. He was a complete jerk to us while others in similar positions were very kind. I have never forgotten that.
— Bob McGovern (@BobMcGovernJr) April 2, 2019
@KeithOlbermann is a buffoon and has no understanding. I am not sure how he can call himself a journalist. He and many more are the reason I have quit watching @espn
— Dwight (@dwightdr) April 2, 2019
Bless his heart, the poor thing.
— John Patterson (@JohnnyBigodes2) April 2, 2019
To think I used to watch him decades ago and this is his true self. This is a sad state of social media.
— Sunshine (@IamSunshine408) April 2, 2019
It really is nasty form of SNOBBERY that's on display with Olbermann.
Most people I know may disagree with another person's choice/lifestyle, but they don't go out of their way to berate them publicly, threaten their job security, or expose them to mob violence.
— TreePointer (@TreePointer) April 2, 2019
Imagine your servant goes to the grocery store and finds that us mental midget farmers and hunters haven’t wrapped everything in plastic and sent it to the store.
— Allan Pollchik (@pollchik) April 2, 2019
Guessing that Olbermann's free-range organic poultry is killed, gutted, cleaned by someone else then packaged in a tidy styrofoam container with an absorbent pad to collect juices that would make it to yucky looking for him to consume.
— Stephen (@ChartNotes) April 2, 2019
This guy should be fired
— Jacqueline Eckler (@ecklerja) April 2, 2019
Keith Olbermann desperately needs the mirror of self-awareness most Southern hunters acquire in the absence of liberal privilege – but appears to be too slow and stupid to develop it.
— Alex Bendyna (@bendynaa) April 2, 2019
We in the south are rather amused by it all. Progressives attack what they cant understand- just look at Trump. We welcome all here and show nothing but love, but if you mess with us or meddle in our lives, God help your soul, because He'll be the only one that can.
— StrangerThanLife (@ShaolinKungFu81) April 2, 2019
Those who don't understand the appeal of Trump don't understand that, regardless of anything else one might say of him good or bad, he is a rich and successful New Yorker who, as candidate and office holder, seems to truly respect Middle America, its values, and aspirations.
— Stephen Smoot (@S_A_Smoot) April 2, 2019
Thank you for shining a spot light on this. You are correct. Olberman is the living symptom of contempt toward those different from him. The actual targeting of those he does not understand is beyond despicable.
— Heidi Cordeiro (@HeidiSCordeiro) April 2, 2019
Related:
'That should do it'! Here's how ESPN's reportedly handling Keith Olbermann's campaign to make hunter's life 'a living hell' https://t.co/nNR2r29bfW
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) March 27, 2019
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