Keith Olbermann Inks New Deal, Lets Loose on California Gay Marriage Ban
Keith Olbermann
MSNBC announced Monday that the network had signed anchor and Countdown host Keith Olbermann to a new four-year contract.
The pact will keep Olbermann at Countdown and NBC's Sunday Night Foobtall until at least 2010, paying him roughly $7.5 million a year. Olbermann's brand of commentary, most often directed at President Bush and his administration, led to the highest ratings in the show's five-year history last month. But with that administration heading out the door, where will Olbermann direct his anger?
In a Monday appearance on The View, Olbermann joked: "We're switching to all Mariah Carey as of tonight." But that wasn't the case at all.
Instead, Olbermann delivered an emotional railing against the passing of California's Proposition 8, proving his "Special Comment" segments don't need to attack Bush to pack a punch. In the six-minute segment (which you can watch below), a visibly shaken Olbermann called the vote to ban gay marriage in California "horrible" and suggested viewers examine their hearts.
"The world is barren enough," he said. "With so much hate in the world, so much meaningless division... this is what your religion tells you to do? This is what your heart tells you to do? You are asked to stand now on a question of love."
Are you glad that Olbermann will be around to share more of his "special" comments? And what do you think of his take on Prop 8?