Keith Olbermann, the top anchor on MSNBC, was suspended on Friday after the channel discovered that he had made campaign contributions to three Democrats.
The MSNBC president, Phil Griffin, issued a statement saying, “I became aware of Keith’s political contributions late last night. Mindful
of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely
without pay.”
No one at NBC News would speculate about what this might mean for Mr. Olbermann’s future, though one NBC executive suggested this was not a step toward firing him.
Politico had reported Friday morning that Mr. Olbermann’s contributions were in apparent violation of MSNBC policy.
Mr. Olbermann hosts the most popular program on MSNBC, “Countdown.” He worked at MSNBC in the late 1990s and re-joined the channel in 2003.
He has long been a volatile figure inside MSNBC, in part for his polarizing points of view. He has sometimes clashed with Mr. Griffin and
other managers over editorial decisions, and he has been publicly
critical of some of his former bosses.
Mr. Olbermann did not immediately respond to a request for comment after the suspension was announced Friday afternoon.
MSNBC has a number of hosts who could fill in for Mr. Olbermann, including Lawrence O’Donnell, who recently started to host a 10 p.m.
program on the channel; and Cenk Uygur, who recently was signed as a
contributor.
