Keith Olbermann, ADL, MSNBC, Bill O'Reilly

OLBY LAMBASTED

After Nazi 'O'Reilly' Salute, ADL Angered





Even if the mainstream media failed to denounce MSNBC host Keith Olbermann's most notorious recent antics, that doesn't mean others aren't willing to speak out.

After Olby's bizarre anti- Bill O'Reilly stunt at the Television Critics Association's summer meeting, where the Countdown host donned an O'Reilly mask and gave a Nazi salute, the Anti- Defamation League sent this letter, just now made public:

Anti-Defamation League


Keith Olbermann
Countdown with Keith Olbermann
MSNBC

July 28, 2006

Dear Mr. Olbermann,

We are deeply dismayed by your ongoing use of the Nazi "Sieg Heil" salute, both on your program and in public appearances -- including the recent Television Critics Association press tour -- while holding up a mask of Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly.

While we understand that your aim is to entertain your audience by taking pot shots at Mr. O'Reilly, your repeated use of the Nazi salute has resulted in many complaints from our constituents, including Holocaust survivors and their families who find the use of this gesture offensive and repugnant in any context.

The Nazi salute is more than just a remnant of history, but serves as a calling card for modern-day neo-Nazis and white supremacists. We believe that the use of gestures and imagery associated with the Nazis – even in jest – only serves to trivialize the Holocaust and denigrate the memory of the six million Jews and others who died as a result of Hitler's Final Solution.

As a respected and well-known media personality, your actions have consequences and can set a standard for others to emulate. We are especially concerned that young people viewing your program might take their cues from your free use of the "Sieg Heil" salute.

In light of these concerns, we hope that you will reconsider your use of the Nazi salute in the future.

Sincerely,

The Anti-Defamation League

Knowing that he's in good company, Olbermann can feel quite comfortable, as fellow- traveller and Air America Radio host Randi Rhodes was sent a similar letter last year:

Randi Rhodes Show
Air America Radio
September 26, 2005

Dear Ms. Rhodes:

We have received complaints about and ourselves are deeply troubled by your recent on-air comparison between the evacuation of victims of hurricane Katrina and the deportation of Jews to Auschwitz during World War II.

On the September 21 edition of your show, during a call from a listener about the New Orleans evacuations, you said:

"It reminds me of a little visit I made to the Holocaust museum, and I saw these cattle cars, and they took people to go on them but they didn't tell them where they were going…So what are you supposed to do? Just do a faith-based evacuation? [Mocking tone:] 'I'm sure he wouldn't send me to Auschwitz.'…

"…Think about it this way. People were taken one place. Their children were taken another place. This is so much like the Holocaust! I can't even -- You know, it's like, you're not supposed to forget the Holocaust so that it can't happen again. And here you have people being loaded onto transportation vehicles, not being told where they're going, and their children are being taken someplace else..."

While we appreciate the fact that talk radio is unscripted, the analogy comparing rescue operations --as mismanaged as they may have been --to Auschwitz deportations is a perversion of morality and history. The government's flawed attempt was intended to save lives, not exterminate them.

Could it be time to give both Olbermann and Rhodes Countdown's "Worst Person In The World" award?

ALSO: Olbermann Watch has further details on this story here.

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