Flutterby™! : Garrison Keillor fired by MPR over misconduct allegations

You've probably seen the news that Garrison Keillor fired by MPR: 'I put my hand on a woman's bare back,' he says:

In an email to the Star Tribune Wednesday, Keillor said, “I put my hand on a woman’s bare back. 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. She recoiled. I apologized. I sent her an email of apology later and she replied that she had forgiven me and not to think about it. We were friends. We continued to be friendly right up until her lawyer called.”

Larry linked to this version.

This news comes less than a day after the Washington Post published Garrison Keillor's editorial: Al Franken should resign? That’s absurd.

I have mentioned a number of times that, ages ago, a woman described a date gone bad to me with "I felt very uncomfortable with him, so I gave him a blowjob to get rid of him." I can imagine that if you're as central to the Americana music scene as Garrison Keillor, that when the power imbalance is that extreme, "forgiven" and "don't think about it" may in fact be the equivalent of giving him a blowjob to get rid of him.

But I also think that this is more evidence of Kitty Stryker's assertion that, to some extent, we need to destigmatize sexual assault and coercion so that we can acknowledge that there are broad swaths and degrees. We're not going to have open and honest conversations about it as long as "yes, I stepped over a line" is automatically career- ending. I submit that we have all, male and female, danced delicately over the consent line at one point or another, to differing degrees. We need more conversation about what that means.

Statement from Minnesota Public Radio regarding Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion.