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There appeared to be no love lost between former colleagues as Keith Olbermann ripped his former protégé for maintaining a lucrative deal with MSNBC.

Sparing the spittle of his frequent foam-mouthed rants, the sports and political commentator opted for a pithy post when he decided to rip his onetime network’s primetime personality, Rachel Maddow. Specifically, Olbermann roasted the suggestion that she could sever ties with the network amid reports of a spin-off company after she’d inked her $25 million contract.

After writer Jeff Jarvis had shared a story about a potential identity shift by MSNBC as parent company Comcast would separate it and other properties from NBC News and NBCUniversal, proposing that “maybe @maddow should leave & build a new operation,” Olbermann sounded off with what he thought of Maddow’s decision-making.

“She just re-signed for $25m,” he wrote on X. “If you think she’d do anything for principle, I’ll light a candle for you.”

The sentiment appeared to be a far cry from any mutual respect that had once been shared between the pair that had seen Maddow testifying to Olbermann’s profound impact on her career after he was cut from the network for donating to Democratic campaigns.

“As you may know, there is no way I would have ended up with a show on this network had it not been for Keith making me first a regular guest on his show and then his regular guest host when he was away,” she said on her own broadcast after “Countdown” had been taken off the air. “I wouldn’t have this show without Keith directly nudging the network to give me a try and without Keith clearing space for the liberals among us in this country to identify ourselves as such, as liberals, even on primetime cable TV.”

Of course, his animus wasn’t reserved for Maddow alone as he also tore into “Morning Joe” co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski over their meeting with President-elect Donald Trump.

“I love the shock… Why is anybody surprised? Since 1998 I’ve said Scarborough was the worst person I’d ever encountered in this business. He proves me right, year after year. Today it has become Vichy MSNBC,” he posted to X amid other ill-will directed from the left over the morning talking heads bucking the tradition of simply bashing the GOP leader.

As with the blame game following Trump’s Election Night victory coupled with the glaring lack of a clear successor as leader of the Democratic Party, MSNBC had become a microcosm of the division on the left as it had been reported that the “Morning Joe” olive branch prompted a “very tense situation” at the network.

“They have lost a lot credibility,” a source told The U.S. Sun as ratings sank. “Rachel Maddow is p****d at them as are other presenters like Chris Hayes and [Ari] Melber. They are so frustrated.”

The toxicity remained a focal point as some called out “anyone who chooses to be affiliated with [Olbermann], especially if you fund them or otherwise support them… You now consistently prove that you will quickly turn vicious and blast their personal business to humiliate them publicly.”

Kevin Haggerty
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