Keith Olbermann

Early life Olbermann was born January 27, 1959, in New York City, the son of Marie Katherine (née Charbonier),

Sports broadcasting Olbermann began his professional career at UPI and the RKO Radio Network before joining then-nascent CNN in 1981. Among the early stories he covered was the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, including the "Miracle on Ice". and he was named best sportscaster by the California Associated Press three times. He made $350,000 at the end of his tenure at ESPN.

Post-SportsCenter

In 1999, Olbermann joined Fox Sports Net to be the star anchor for their sports news show Fox Sports News Primetime, which was an ill-fated competitor to SportsCenter. Olbermann later left that show to be an anchor and executive producer for The Keith Olbermann Evening News, a sportscast similar to SportsCenter that aired weekly on Sunday evenings. While at Fox he hosted the 2000 World Series as well as Fox Broadcasting's baseball Game of the Week. In May and July 1999, Olbermann also guest-starred ten times on Hollywood Squares.

Return to and departure from ESPN

It was announced on July 17, 2013, that Olbermann would host his own one-hour nightly show on ESPN2. The two-year contract would allow him to deviate from the topic of sports into realms such as "pop culture and current events", as well as politics, which was a right Olbermann claimed he did not intend to exercise.

Olbermann was suspended by ESPN in 2015 for the week following Penn State University's annual philanthropy THON due to a Twitter exchange he had with Penn State supporters. THON is the world's largest student-run philanthropy, raising over $160 million for pediatric cancer research since 1977. In the Twitter exchange, Olbermann stated, "PSU students are pitiful." Later, prior to apologizing, Olbermann stated, "I'd like to thank the students and alums of Penn State for proving my point about the mediocrity of their education and ethics." Olbermann apologized on his program upon his return March 2, but noted, "I'm much more sorry about batting practice [i.e. trolling or cyber bullying]. So for me, batting practice ends."

In July 2015 ESPN announced that it would be Olbermann's last month with the network. ESPN said that it was a "business decision to move in another direction".

The Ringer In 2016, Olbermann wrote an article for Bill Simmons' company "The Ringer" after Muhammad Ali's death.

Third tenure with ESPN

In January 2018, Olbermann returned to ESPN once again, presenting occasional commentaries on SportsCenter throughout the first half of 2018. In May 2018, Olbermann's role at ESPN expanded to include a return to the role of SportsCenter host and the addition of occasional ESPN Major League Baseball play-by-play.

News journalism In 1997, Olbermann left ESPN to host a prime-time show on MSNBC, The Big Show with Keith Olbermann (ESPN objected to the use of the title). During that period Olbermann, along with Hannah Storm, also co-hosted NBC Sports' pre-game coverage of the MLB 1997 World Series. Olbermann became frustrated as his show was consumed by the Monica Lewinsky scandal. In 1998, he stated that his work at MSNBC would "make me ashamed, make me depressed, make me cry."

During the interim between shows, Olbermann launched an "official not-for-profit" blog called FOKNewsChannel.com, "FOK" being an abbreviation for "Friends of Keith". The blog featured political commentaries by Olbermann—including viral video versions of Countdown'''s "Special Comment" and "Worst Person" segments, as well as photographs of his outings at professional baseball games. The two parties sued each other over Olbermann's firing. On March 12, 2013, it was announced that Olbermann settled his $50 million legal claim. In a joint statement, Olbermann and Current TV said: "The parties are pleased to announce that a settlement has occurred, and that the terms are confidential. Nothing more will be disclosed regarding the settlement." According to Politico, Olbermann's professional reputation suffered greatly as a result of his dispute with Current, which accused Olbermann of making "material breaches of his contract, including the failure to show up at work, sabotaging the network and attacking Current and its executives". Purportedly, despite actively shopping other networks for offers, Olbermann was unable to find an outlet interested in hiring him. According to Politico, the fact Olbermann had been rendered unemployable as a result of the dispute, factored heavily during settlement negotiations between his attorneys and representatives from CurrentTV.

GQ On September 12, 2016, GQ magazine announced that Olbermann would, as a special correspondent, host a web series covering the 2016 US presidential election. The series, titled The Closer with Keith Olbermann, aired twice weekly on GQ.com. , it had nearly 170 million views on GQs YouTube and Facebook. In mid-October 2017, Penguin Random House issued a hardcover book by Olbermann, Trump Is F*cking Crazy (This Is Not a Joke), consisting of 50 essays based on The Resistance commentaries. On November 27, 2017, in episode 147 of The Resistance, Olbermann announced his retirement from political commentary, citing his belief that "this ... presidency of Donald John Trump will end prematurely and end soon, and I am thus also confident that this is the correct moment to end this series of commentaries".

Countdown with Keith Olbermann Podcast On August 1, 2022, Olbermann began producing and hosting a weekday podcast titled "Countdown with Keith Olbermann", for iHeart Media. It usually consists of a similar five block show from the TV days with three blocks changed out. The main, a dog in need, a headlines section, worst person, a sports rundown and the number one story either being a story of Olbermann's (usually his experience in the news media) or a short story from James Thurber on Fridays. The podcast currently releases 2-5 episodes per week, during the weekdays.

Acting Olbermann has made several acting appearances either as himself or simply as a sports/newscaster, most notably as Tom Jumbo-Grumbo (a blue whale newscaster on the MSNBSea network) in several episodes of BoJack Horseman.

Controversies

Sexism allegations In 2008, Olbermann and other MSNBC hosts were criticized over their coverage of Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. Some accused the coverage of being sexist and simultaneously claimed that the coverage was biased in favor Barack Obama.

In 2009, Olbermann tweeted that conservative S. E. Cupp was “a perfect demonstration of the necessity of the work Planned Parenthood does". That same year he singled out Michelle Malkin referring to her a “big, mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick on it". He later apologized to both Malkin and Cupp for his remarks while denying that his remarks were sexist.

Midterm elections donations On October 28, 2010, days before the 2010 U.S. elections, Olbermann donated $2,400 each to three Democratic candidates for Congress: Kentucky Senate candidate Jack Conway, and Arizona Democratic Representatives Raul Grijalva and Gabby Giffords. After Charlie Kirk was assassinated in September 2025, Olbermann tweeted that Kirk should "burn in hell".

In November 2007, British newspaper The Daily Telegraph placed Olbermann at No. 67 on their Top 100 list of most influential US liberals. It said that he used his MSNBC show to promote "an increasingly strident liberal agenda." It added that he would be "a force on the Left for some time to come." Additionally. Olbermann labeled Trump "a terrorist" and called his supporters "a blight that will be with us for generations", further saying that Trump's "only barely-human delight comes from the morons in the crowd." He also stated that Trump should be charged for each death that occurred from the COVID-19 virus and to face the death penalty.

In March 2024, Olbermann called for the United States Supreme Court to be dissolved following the court's unanimous decision in Trump v. Anderson to allow Trump to remain on the ballot in the 2024 election.

After Charlie Kirk was assassinated in September 2025, Olbermann tweeted that Kirk should "burn in hell". After the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel in September 2025, Olbermann responded to a tweet from Scott Jennings criticizing Kimmel by stating "You're next, motherf-ker." This was brought to Jennings' attention by other users and he referred the tweet to FBI director Kash Patel.

Criticism of the George W. Bush administration In Olbermann's "Special Comment" segment on July 3, 2007, he called George W. Bush's commutation of Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence the "last straw" and called for the resignation of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Olbermann has dated several women involved in politics and journalism, including Katy Tur, Laura Ingraham, Kyrsten Sinema and Olivia Nuzzi.

Olbermann is a dedicated baseball fan and historian of the sport, with membership in the Society for American Baseball Research. RKO Radio Network, sports reporter (1980) CNN, sports reporter (1981–1984) WCVB-TV Boston, sports reporter (1984) KTLA-TV Los Angeles, sports director (1985–1988) KCBS-TV Los Angeles, sports director (1988–1992) SportsCenter, co-anchor (ESPN, 1992–1997) The Big Show, anchor (MSNBC, 1997–1998) SportsCenter, anchor and ESPN Major League Baseball, play-by-play (2018–2020) Countdown with Keith Olbermann, host (iHeart Radio, 2022–present)