ESPN's Keith Olbermann Calls for Followers To Make Hunter's Life 'a Living Hell'
When a hunter bags a rare turkey during turkey hunting season, as Brian Broom of the Mississippi Clarion Ledger reported on Monday, the story practically writes itself.
It’s a classic tale of man versus nature, with some added intrigue due to the rarity of the hunt. No more, no less.
Leave it to ESPN’s notoriously obnoxious leftist Keith Olbermann to turn a hunting story into a pathetic bullying story.
Hunter Waltman of Kiln, Mississippi, is just a normal guy who likes to hunt. Upon learning of an unusual white turkey that lived on his newly purchased property, he was obviously intrigued with bagging the rare bird, Broom noted in the Clarion Ledger.
“The bird’s plumage was solid white. His spurs and nails were white, too. His beard was black. His eyes were the same as a normal turkey, so that ruled out albinism. He was an anomaly in the world of turkeys,” Broom wrote.
On the first Sunday of turkey hunting season, March 17, Waltman bagged the bizarre bird. That should’ve been that, with Waltman getting a well-deserved turn in the spotlight for nabbing such a unique specimen.
Things seemed headed in that direction — until Olbermann heaped a whole ton of unwanted attention on Waltman.
Olbermann, as he typically does, went off on Waltman for daring to hunt. In a since-removed tweet, Olbermann told his 1.08 million followers to make Waltman’s life a “living hell.”
“It be rare and beautiful so me should kill it,” Olbermann tweeted. “This pea-brained scumbag identifies himself as Hunter Waltman and we should do our best to make sure the rest of his life is a living hell. And the nitwit clown who wrote this fawning piece should be fired.”
This is a screenshot of @KeithOlbermann encouraging his 1 million+ followers to “make sure the rest of [Hunter Waltman’s] life is a living hell” for shooting a white turkey while out hunting. Amazing ethics from a journalist! Hunter, if your reading this, please contact a lawyer. pic.twitter.com/Sfb4YCsrkG
— Cold Snow (@ColdSnow44) March 27, 2019
That disturbing rant was clearly out of bounds.
To be clear, as in the case of the radical animal rights group PETA, Olbermann’s disdain for hunting and love of animals comes from a kernel of a good place. Olbermann often stuffs his Twitter feed with appeals to help out homeless dogs when he’s not brazenly attacking random citizens. But also like PETA, Olbermann stretches his love of animals to an asinine and absurd level.
According to USA Today, Oblermann’s cowardly attack hounds pounced on both Waltman and Broom.
“I didn’t like the idea of that too much,” Waltman told USA Today. “I don’t think a lot of people would like to be called out on social media like that, especially (by someone) with so many followers.
“They text me all kinds of stuff. If (Olbermann) hadn’t done that, none of this would have happened.”
Waltman, who had never even heard of Olbermann before this incident, now considers the ESPN pundit a threatening individual.
“To tell you the truth, it seemed like a threat to me,” Waltman said. “Make (my) life ‘a living hell?’ That seems like a threat to me. I’d be glad to see him fired. He went overboard.”
I don’t know Hunter Waltman, but he is a lot more level headed and grounded than Keith Olbermann. Also, I’m jealous he got that turkey. https://t.co/EKkxbstQz4
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) March 27, 2019
The Clarion Ledger’s executive editor, Sam R. Hall, also responded to Olbermann’s removed tweet with a blistering retort.
“Keith Olbermann says Brian Broom should be fired for writing this story,” he wrote. “What was I thinking? I guess I should have fired our outdoors writer for writing about a hunter killing an unusual turkey during turkey hunting season.”
Hall followed up with another statement, per USA Today.
“Keith Olbermann‘s tweet was recklessly irresponsible,” Hall said. “Someone with his following needs to understand the possible impact of his words.
“Telling over 1 million people to make someone’s life a living hell could have seriously dangerous consequences. In our newsroom, that would be a fireable offense, not writing a story about a hunter bagging a turkey.”
Olbermann did make an attempt at an apology, though not a very good one.
I am an opponent of trophy hunting and remain so, but nobody should feel threatened. This was anything but my intent, so I unreservedly apologize to Mr. Waltman for this tweet.
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) March 27, 2019
It was not his intent to threaten someone by telling a million people to make the man’s life a “living hell” for the sole reason of hunting? Worse yet, Olbermann has the audacity to say that Waltman shouldn’t “feel threatened”? How else should Waltman take Olbermann’s original tweet?
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