Olbermann's Lawsuit Takes Shots at Current's Cenk Uygur

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John Hudson 13,762 Views Apr 6, 2012

The fireball of destruction that is Keith Olbermann's career has veered its course toward former colleague and Current TV host Cenk Uygur. Last night, TMZ published Olbermann's $50 million breach of contract suit against Al Gore's network and besides harshly denigrating Current co-founder Joel Hyatt and network President David Bohrman, it lashes out against Uygur, who hosts The Young Turks, the lead-in to Olbermann's now-defunct 8 p.m. show. 

"Prior to launching 'The Young Turks,' Hyatt and Bohrmann asked Olbermann about the possibility of hiring Cenk Uygur," reads the lawsuit. "Olbermann told them that he did not believe Uygur would be a good choice. Olbermann opined to Bohrman that Uygur had difficulty separating facts from things he wanted to be true. As Current's Chief News Officer, the credibility of the content shown on Current was directly associated with Olbermann."

It's a pretty low blow to trash your former colleague publicly in a lawsuit, especially given that the statement implies Uygur is seriously under-qualified for the job he now has. But wait: It gets worse.

"Additionally, Olbermann told Hyatt and Bohrman that when Uygur appeared on 'Countdown,' the day after Uygur's much publicized departure from MSNBC (at the height of his perceived popularity), the ratings on the Program had actually gone down during Uygur's segment," reads the lawsuit. "Of course, Current ignored the advice of Olbermann and hired Uygur to host a program that aired immediately before Olbermann's Program."

To put this in context, the interview Olbermann is referring to happened last year after Uygur unceremoniously left his job MSNBC. He was kind enough to give Olbermann an exclusive exit interview and now the liberal host is using that gesture as evidence that Current should've never hired him in the first place. But that's not the worst part. It also implies that Uygur was a ratings loser, whose lead-in damaged Olbermann's audience numbers. Unfortunately for Olbermann, we learned yesterday that Uygur is actually beating Olbermann's ratings in the key 25-54 demographic as of this week. That little bit of info comes from Mediaite's Tommy Christopher who says the accomplishment is likely "bittersweet" for Uygur "whose admiration for Olbermann is well-known." We're guessing that admiration will be much less-known from now on.  

We've reached out to Uygur and will update if he responds. Below is the supposed "ratings losing" interview between Olbermann and Uygur:

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