Keith Olbermann is being accused of hammering his former protegé Rachel Maddow on Twitter after responding to a tweet about the cable network’s ratings slump. Olbermann responded with “This is sarcasm, to the following tweet:
Very, Very impressive #ratings @msnbc. Especially without the help of @KeithOlbermann. @maddow great job filling his void.
One of Olbermann’s followers interpreted his Tweet as a slam on Maddow and called him out.
@KeithOlbermann That supposed to be a snipe against Maddow? Thought better of you than that.
— Janine Murdock (@Mishyana) July 3, 2013
That’s when Olbermann got personal. He responded, “It’s about the collapse of that network. I don’t know anything about her any more; she hasn’t bothered to speak to me since I left.”
Olbermann has been credited for giving Maddow a regular, prime time platform on his “Countdown” program and was a major advocate with the network on her behalf.
As the Huffington Post points out, this is the latest in a string of subtle references to a chilling of the Olbermann/Maddow bromance:
Last year, Maddow appeared on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live” and was asked if she had spoken to Olbermann since he left MSNBC in 2011. “No,” she said. “But it’s not like we’ve been fighting. We just haven’t been talking.”
When Olbermann moved to Current TV, his show had an awkward collision with Maddow’s MSNBC program. He announced that his then-8:00 p.m. show would last for 63 minutes. When some of his Twitter followers pointed out that the show would creep into the first three minutes of Maddow’s show on MSNBC, Olbermann defended the move, calling it “a competition.” He later turned his show into a 60 minute program.
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