MPR Says There Are Many Garrison Keillor Instances

Garrison Keillor

Minnesota Public Radio broke its silence on Garrison Keillor Tuesday, saying it severed ties with the host of "A Prairie Home Companion" after a woman who worked for the show told MPR he subjected her to "dozens of sexually inappropriate incidents … over a period of years" including "unwanted sexual touching."

The 75-year-old Keillor said on Nov. 29 that MPR severed its ties with him after a single incident in which he placed his hand on a woman's bare back.

But MPR President Jon McTaggart called Keillor's story "misinformation," explaining in a public statement Tuesday that the woman's attorney detailed a number of alleged incidents in a 12-page letter to MPR. Dated Oct. 22, the letter included "excerpts of e-mails and written messages, requests for sexual contact and explicit descriptions of sexual communications and touching."

MPR is not identifying the woman. The Star Tribune has confirmed that she was a longtime writer for the show who worked closely with Keillor, and that she is one of several women who claim to have received inappropriate messages from him .

According to a close family friend of the woman, Keillor's behavior was "disgusting" and involved "vulgar" sexual language. When she rejected Keillor's unwanted advances, the friend said, the messages turned "threatening."

"He is not the nice guy that all of his fans think he is," said the man.

Another woman said she wound up having a yearlong affair with Keillor in 2007 and 2008 after exchanging e-mails with sexual overtones.

The writer said she received a $16,000 check from Keillor's company, Prairie Home Productions, to keep quiet about the affair, but never cashed it because she didn't want to agree to a nondisclosure agreement.

According to The Associated Press, MPR faced a backlash from outraged Keillor fans after firing the best-selling humorist after four decades of his telling folksy stories about his fictional Minnesota hometown of Lake Wobegon. Keillor accused the station of firing him without a full investigation. Until MPR's new statement Tuesday, the only account of his actions was his.

The station also disputed that Keillor was fired in a rush, laying out a timeline in which it launched an internal investigation after receiving a general allegation against Keillor from a former employee — not the alleged victim — in late August. MPR said that employee refused to identify the alleged victim or detail what happened to her, and MPR didn't get specifics of the allegations until it received letters from the former employee Sept. 29 and from the alleged victim Oct. 22.

MPR said it notified its board Oct. 26 and launched an independent investigation a few days later.

MPR said Keillor responded to the allegations with his attorney present. MPR said Keillor and his attorney declined to give access to his computer, emails and text messages to allow a full investigation.