‘You shouldn’t be associates with a feminine colleague — it is harmful’

Neither his 2016 retirement from A Prairie Dwelling Companion nor a scandal the next 12 months that noticed Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) severing ties with the radio host amid allegations of sexual misconduct have slowed down Garrison Keillor. Approaching his eightieth birthday, the humorist is again within the highlight thanks to 2 new books (Serenity at 70, Gaiety at 80: Why You Ought to Preserve On Getting Older and the novel Growth City: a Lake Wobegon), a collection of tour dates and an interview with CBS Sunday Morning Information by which he displays on being known as out through the #MeToo motion.

“#MeToo was a really noble endeavor to battle bullies,” Keillor, 79, tells CBS correspondent Anthony Mason. “There are bullies and I am in favor of combating them — I am not one myself.”

In November 2017, Keillor was fired from MPR, which broadcast A Prairie Dwelling Companion and A Author’s Almanac, after the married author and radio character was accused of sexually inappropriate habits by a feminine colleague. E mail exchanges between him and the lady, a researcher who described Keillor as a “mentor and employer” who “had energy over me,” see him making reference to sexual goals about her. In his interview, Keillor insists that he and the lady had a “mutual flirtation” and “friendship” that was deemed problematic solely as a result of “the tradition modified.” He now sees it as “harmful” to be associates with ladies within the office.

“There was no kissing, there was no hugging — it was a form of flirtation that 1000’s of individuals did earlier than me, and I hope they take my case as a warning that you shouldn’t,” says Keillor, who has beforehand blamed his firing on touching a lady’s naked again as he tried to console her. “You shouldn’t be associates with a feminine colleague — it is harmful. It’s best to by no means put your hand on a feminine colleague, ever — it is harmful.”

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Keillor says he “would have been grateful” if he’d been confronted in particular person about “the impact” his sexual references and undesirable touching had been having. When pressed by Mason as as to if he “crossed the road,” he means that he did not do something that others have not.

“I crossed the road in a approach that if you happen to had been to dismiss all people else who had crossed the road, there can be no employees left,” he says. “And there can be no administration in any respect. The tradition modified.”

He calls signing a confidentiality settlement as a part of his settlement a “dreadful, dreadful mistake,” noting that “an individual ought to by no means signal away your proper to inform your aspect of the story.”

Whereas he acknowledges that having already retired previous to the allegations popping out made it simpler, he bristles at having his enterprise ties terminated by MPR, which subsequently performed an investigation figuring out a “years-long sample of habits that left a number of ladies who labored for Keillor feeling mistreated, sexualized or belittled,” in keeping with MPR Information.

“I labored for the corporate for 40 years, and I used to be dismissed with a telephone name,” the native Minnesotan says. “The telephone name took a few minute and a half. There was no ‘thanks.'”

Keillor now says he does not care about what individuals consider him, including, “I am not taking a ballot about my popularity, my public picture, or something. … I’ve family and friends, and there are a sure quantity of people that nonetheless love to return out and listen to about Lake Wobegon. And that is sufficient. What extra does one need?”

He additionally resists utilizing the phrase “sufferer,” telling Mason, “I’ve met too many individuals who actually are victims, and I am not.”