One of the many prominent men swept up in sex-related scandals in the past few months was Garrison Keillor, long a fixture on Minnesota Public Radio and a favorite of liberals nationwide. MPR fired Keillor, but until now the only account of what led to the termination came from Keillor himself, who said that the only relevant incident was when he accidentally touched a woman’s back. Not surprisingly, many Keillor fans protested his firing.
MPR has now told its side of the story:
Minnesota Public Radio provided additional details of allegations of sexual harassment against humorist Garrison Keillor on Tuesday, saying his alleged conduct went well beyond his account in November of accidentally touching a woman’s bare back.
MPR said in a statement that Keillor was accused by a woman who worked on his “A Prairie Home Companion” radio show of dozens of sexually inappropriate incidents over several years, including requests for sexual contact and explicit sexual communications and touching.
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MPR said as it attempted to investigate the case, Keillor and his attorney refused to grant access to his computer, emails and text messages.
Legal issues are ongoing:
The station said it had avoided releasing more information about the allegations while it was in mediation with Keillor “and the other parties in this matter.”
“Unfortunately, the mediation sessions have not produced the final settlements we had hoped for,” the station said.
Some men may well have been falsely accused, and others have suffered inordinately for minor transgressions. But Keillor doesn’t appear to be in those categories.
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