Author and longtime radio broadcaster Garrison Keillor has been fired from Minnesota Public Radio amid allegations of improper behavior. The announcement came hours after NBC's announcement it had fired longtime "Today" co-host Matt Lauer amid allegations of misconduct.
FROM THE AJC ARCHIVES: That time Garrison Keillor stormed off the stage at Chastain Park
Keillor told the Minneapolis Star Tribune he patted a woman on the back in an act of solace, but she "recoiled." He apologized and the two remain friends "until her lawyer called," he told the paper.
He had retired from his longtime gig as host of “A Prairie Home Companion” but continued to produce other segments. His Prairie Home successor, Chris Thile, said he didn't know anything other than what MPR said in its statement:
In his final live performance as host of "Prairie Home" in Atlanta last year, he made fun of the Atlanta Braves for moving to Cobb County.
A “Guy Noire: Private Eye” skit lambasted the team for leaving Turner Field, “one of the most beautiful ball parks in the history of baseball,” in favor of “an ugly new field in the midst of miles of shopping malls and office park.
“I’m talking about Cobb County, the northern suburbs that have no public transportation to speak of – just freeways that turn into parking lots,” actor Tim Russell said in character. "These fiscal conservatives who pay school teachers in paper clips have ponied up half a billion dollars….so the Braves can leave a fine old ballpark and move a few miles north.”
He conducted an email interview with AJC writer Bo Emerson in March ahead of a solo appearance.
"We have a bedrock belief in a decent society in which everyone’s kids have a crack at an excellent education, people get the health care they need, people are treated fairly regardless of their oddities, and you don’t get so bogged down trying to get the necessities that you can’t lift up your head and admire the stars and enjoy God’s great creation including your own family," Keillor wrote at the time, ahead of a solo appearance at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center (not far from SunTrust Park). "It’s not about fear, it’s about the good life and making room for the miraculous."
PAST AJC COVERAGE: Garrison Keillor discusses his solo show
