Here's What Got Garrison Keillor Fired

Radio host Garrison Keillor, creator of the long-running folksy variety show “A Prairie Home Companion,” has been fired over an accusation of inappropriate behavior, Minnesota Public Radio said on Wednesday.

“Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) is terminating its contracts with Garrison Keillor and his private media companies after learning of allegations of his inappropriate behavior with an individual who worked with him,” the organization said in a statement. It gave no details.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that the 75-year-old Keillor told it in an email that the behavior involved him putting his hand on a woman’s back.

“I 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,” the Star Tribune quoted Keillor’s email as saying. “I sent her an email of apology later and she replied that she had forgiven me and not to think about it.”

He said he was “the least physically affectionate person” on his show.  He posted the following statement at garrisonkeillor.com:

I am deeply grateful for all the years I had doing "A Prairie Home Companion" and "The Writer's Almanac", the summer tours, the outdoor shows at Tanglewood and Wolf Trap, the friendships of musicians and actors, the saga of Lake Wobegon, the songs and sketches, Guy Noir, Dusty & Lefty, the sheer pleasure of standing in the warmth of that audience. 

A person could not hope for more than what I was given. I've been fired over a story that I think is more interesting and more complicated than the version MPR heard. Most stories are. It's some sort of poetic irony to be knocked off the air by a story, having told so many of them myself, but I'm 75 and don't have any interest in arguing about this. And I cannot in conscience bring danger to a great organization I've worked hard for since 1969. 

I am sorry for all the poets whose work I won't 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. 

— Garrison Keillor

Keillor is best known as the creator of “A Prairie Home Companion,” a mixture of gentle comedy sketches, music and social commentary, which he hosted from 1974 to 2016.

He created a fictional Minnesota town, Lake Wobegon, which featured in the show and in a number of novels he wrote.

MPR said it would end rebroadcasts of that show hosted by Keillor, as well as distribution and broadcast of his shorter “The Writer’s Almanac” spots.