Garrison Keillor Says He's Been Fired, It's 'Complicated'

Garrison Keillor, the former host of A Prairie Home Companion, says he's been fired by Minnesota Public Radio over allegations of improper behavior. Keillor told the AP of his firing in an email; MPR describes it as "terminating its contracts with Garrison Keillor and his private media companies." In a follow-up statement, Keillor says he was fired over "a story that I think is more interesting and more complicated than the version MPR heard." He didn't give details of the allegation. MPR says it last month received a single allegation of "inappropriate behavior" dated to when Keillor was responsible for the production of A Prairie Home Companion; it doesn't know of any other similar allegations and says an outside law firm is conducting an investigation.

Keillor retired last year from his longtime radio show. MPR says it will no longer rebroadcast old episodes and will rename what is currently A Prairie Home Companion hosted by Chris Thile. The news comes a day after Keillor penned a column for the Washington Post on what he saw as the absurdity of the suggestion that Al Franken should resign over the misconduct allegations against him. A key passage: "On the flight home, in a spirit of low comedy, Al ogled Miss Tweeden and pretended to grab her and a picture was taken. Eleven years later, a talk show host in LA, she goes public, and there is talk of resignation. This is pure absurdity, and the atrocity it leads to is a code of public deadliness. No kidding." (More Garrison Keillor stories.)