Garrison Keillor

At first the Garrison Keillor firing sounded a bit harsh. He claimed he accidentally touched a woman's bare back, which didn't sound like much to me. The results of the inquiry are in, however, and it was clearly more than that. From Tom Taylor's NOW column...

More about the Garrison Keillor firing – MPR now cites “unwanted sexual touching.” “Dozens of sexually inappropriate incidents over a period of years,” according to the attorney for a woman who worked for Garrison Keillor’s company. (Though not Minnesota Public Radio itself.) MPR posts an extensive statement here about what it learned from an “extended, independent fact-finding investigation” conducted by an outside firm. Keillor had stated that there was a single episode of him accidentally touching a bare back. The woman’s attorney supplied emails, written messages, “requests for sexual contact, and explicit descriptions of sexual communications and touching.” Some Minnesota Public Radio listeners and supporters questioned its judgment last Fall. Now CEO Jon McTaggart says the results of the investigation are in – and there are pieces of it that he can share, shedding light on his decision. McTaggart says “We appreciate Garrison’s many contributions to MPR, and we have gone to great lengths to be considerate of his privacy and his reputation.” The CEO says because Keillor owns many of the rights around his signature “A Prairie Home Companion” and the daily “Writer’s Almanac,” it was necessary to make a clean break in their business relationship. The hastily-chosen new name for the folksy two-hour weekly show now hosted by Chris Thile – “Live from Here.”