Cultural nostalgia, for me, is not about glossing over a civilization’s injustices, but about finding and momentarily amplifying a civilization’s redeeming aspects (a role, by the way, which nostalgia also plays when it comes to our personal histories). While the trend among elites in the United States - especially intellectual elites - has been to declare nostalgia for America’s past ignorant, misguided, and even harmful, I have always found these declarations to be sanctimonious, self-flagellating, and frankly more than a tad bit annoying. The show, now titled Live from Here, continues with Keillor’s hand-picked successor, mandolinist Chris Thile.I first discovered Garrison Keillor at a used bookstore in 2014, when I bought his novel Lake Wobegon Days a story which I had been drawn to primarily because of how big a sucker I am for American nostalgia. Keillor, 75, retired in 2016 as host of Prairie Home, a Saturday evening radio variety show he created in 1974. The station said it had avoided releasing more information about the allegations while it was in mediation with Keillor “and the other parties in this matter”.
MPR said Keillor and his attorney declined to give access to his computer, emails and text messages to allow a full investigation. MPR said Keillor responded to the allegations with his attorney present. The station also disputed that Keillor was fired in a rush, laying out a timeline in which it launched an internal investigation after receiving a general allegation against Keillor from a former employee – not the alleged victim – in late August. “If the full 12-page letter or even a detailed summary of the alleged incidents were to be made public, we believe that would clarify why MPR ended its business relationship with Garrison and correct the misunderstandings and misinformation about the decision,” he added. In a note to members Tuesday afternoon, MPR president Jon McTaggart said otherwise. “I sent her an email of apology later, and she replied that she had forgiven me and not to think about it.” I apologized,” Keillor told the newspaper in an email. “I meant to pat her back after she told me about her unhappiness, and her shirt was open and my hand went up it about six inches. He told the Star Tribune on 29 November that he had simply been trying to console a co-worker. Until MPR’s new statement Tuesday, the only account of his actions was his. Keillor accused the station of firing him without a full investigation. MPR faced a backlash from outraged Keillor fans after firing the bestselling humorist after four decades of his telling folksy stories about his fictional Minnesota hometown of Lake Wobegon. He called the woman’s account “a highly selective and imaginative piece of work” drawn up by her attorney.
He told the Minneapolis Star Tribune listeners were angry over his firing because they “smelled a rat” and “they know I’m not abusive”. Keillor did not respond to an emailed request for comment from the Associated Press. MPR said as it attempted to investigate the case, Keillor and his attorney refused to grant access to his computer, emails and text messages. MPR said the woman, whom it has not identified, detailed the allegations in a 12-page letter that included excerpts of emails and written messages. MPR said in a statement Tuesday that Keillor was accused by a woman who worked on his A Prairie Home Companion radio show of dozens of sexually inappropriate incidents over several years, including requests for sexual contact and explicit sexual communications and touching.