ESPN’s Keith Olbermann returned from suspension today after missing four shows due to insensitive remarks he made on Twitter directed at Penn State students. Olbermann regularly refers to attacking his critics on social media as “batting practice,” but today he used his opening monologue to apologize and call for everyone, including himself, to stop using social media as a platform for bullying.
“People are not designed to be swatted over the nearest outfield fence like the screaming baseball in the old Bugs Bunny cartoon,” Olbermann said. “I was not a victim here, I brought this on myself. This is my fault. But what I brought on… that can happen to anybody. In the public eye or out of it, unless we stop viewing social media as an alternative for Wild West saloon brawling.”
Olbermann went on to discuss why he called a Penn State fan “pitiful” in the middle of “batting practice.” The ESPN host admitted to not even clicking on the link he was replying to, which happened to be about Penn State’s pediatric cancer fundraising efforts. Olbermann, who lost both his parents to cancer, ended the monologue with the information to donate to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Check it out below: