CULTURE: Olbermann Leaves MSNBC, Ends Countdown!

MSNBC host Keith Olbermann announced today that he is leaving the network and has taped his last Countdown show. MSNBC issued a statement that it had ended its contract with the controversial host, with no further explanation. Olbermann, who hosted the network's top-rated show, gave no explanation as to why he was leaving, but did sign off, saying, "This is the last edition of Countdown."

He continued, "The show gradually established its position as anti-establishment, from the stagecraft of 'Mission Accomplished,' to the exaggerated rescue of Jessica Lynch in Iraq, to the death of Pat Tillman ... the program grew and grew. There were many occasions, particularly in the last two-and-a-half years, where all that surrounded the show, but never the show itself, was just too much for me, but your support and loyalty ultimately required that I keep going." Apparently no more.

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