Keith Olbermann apologizes to turkey hunter for urging people to make his life 'a living hell'
While Keith Olbermann remains very much against trophy hunting, he’s apologizing for urging his Twitter followers to make a Mississippi man’s life “a living hell” for legally shooting a turkey.
The political and sports commentator, 60, issued his apology Wednesday, writing that while his stance on killing wild game for human recreation remains unchanged, he was sorry for making 22-year-old Hunter Waltman — yes, the hunter’s name is Hunter — “feel threatened” by his post. “This was anything but my intent,” Olbermann wrote, “so I unreservedly apologize.”
I am an opponent of trophy hunting and remain so, but nobody should feel threatened. This was anything but my intent, so I unreservedly apologize to Mr. Waltman for this tweet.
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) March 27, 2019
Waltzman, who lives in Kiln (population: 2,238), was featured in the local Mississippi Clarion-Ledger on Monday for shooting a rare white turkey, which was not illegal to hunt. Olbermann saw the story and in a tweet to his 1 million-plus followers — that has since been deleted — wrote,
“It be rare and beautiful so me should kill it. This pea-brained scumbag identifies himself as Hunter Waltman and we should do our best to make sure the rest of his life is a living hell. And the nitwit clown who wrote this fawning piece should be fired.”
According to Waltzman, after Olbermann posted the tweet, he started receiving threats. While no one directly threatened to harm him, some people apparently said they hoped that harm comes his way. “If [Olbermann] hadn’t done that, none of this would have happened,” the hunter told the paper. “‘Make [my] life ‘a living hell?’ That seems like a threat to me. I’d be glad to see him fired. He went overboard.”
The Clarion-Ledger executive editor Sam R. Hall spoke out Wednesday calling Olbermann’s tweet “recklessly irresponsible.” He said, “Someone with his following needs to understand the possible impact of his words. Telling over 1 million people to make someone’s life a living hell could have seriously dangerous consequences.”
Keith Olbermann‘s tweet was recklessly irresponsible. Someone with his following needs to understand the possible impact of his words. Telling over 1 million people to make someone’s life a living hell could have seriously dangerous consequences.
— Sam R. Hall (@samrhall) March 27, 2019
He added: “In our newsroom, that would be a fireable offense, not writing a story about a hunter bagging a turkey.”
In our newsroom, that would be a fireable offense, not writing a story about a hunter bagging a turkey.
— Sam R. Hall (@samrhall) March 27, 2019
Several hours later, Olbermann’s apology came — though not to the author of the article, Brian Broom.
Olbermann has spoken out on behalf of animals before. Around the Sochi Olympics, he challenged the International Olympic Committee to do more to protect the stray dogs there after a Russian official called them “biological trash” and many were killed. Olbermann said the Olympics were “stained with the blood of thousands of dogs.”
He also took on dog-abusing exec Desmond Hague, then the CEO of Centerplate, one of the leading sports venue food vendors. When Hague was caught on video kicking a dog, Olbermann called him out on his ESPN show — and suggested that Centerplate should sever ties with him — and Hague was later fired.
In fact, most of Olbermann’s Twitter feed is devoted to animals — getting them adopted and saving them from being euthanized. That hasn’t changed since his apology.
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