Keith Olbermann, host of ESPN2’s “Olbermann,” returned from his suspension on Monday, and went on to apologize and speak about what led to his suspension.
According to Olbermann, he is sorry for his Penn State tweets and it is time for Twitter trolling or cyber bullying, or what he refers to as “batting practice,” to end.
“Those are people’s opinions, meaningful or otherwise. And more importantly, they are in essence, people. And people are not designed to be swatted over the nearest outfield fence like the screaming baseball in the old ‘Bugs Bunny’ cartoon. Of course that’s what I called Twitter, batting practice. And the full meaning of that phrase didn’t become clear until last week when I daftly turned myself into one of those screaming baseballs and entirely through my own stupidity let countless people, many of them correctly indignant, send my ‘Bugs Bunny’ baseball head screaming over the fence again and again and again.”
“But the batting practice attitude practiced by Twitter, which also goes by names like trolling or cyber bullying, is far more dangerous than just self-inflicted damage to somebody’s reputation or one’s ego,” he continued. “It can wind up making it seem like you have just attacked, belittled, marginalized, trivialized, joked about or called pitiful a cause that has been as close to your own heart as your lungs are.”
He went on to apologize, saying, “I’m sorry for the Penn State tweets. Stupid and immature, but I’m much more sorry about batting practice. So for me, batting practice ends. And as quixotic as this may seem to you, I hope you will join me to end it for all of us so we can get back to what matters.”
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.