Looks like ex-MSNBC personality, bowtie fan, and current head of The Daily Caller Tucker Carlson wasn’t content to sit on the sidelines as civil war broke out at his former workplace. Instead, he has placed himself and the always-keen-for-a-controversy Caller right in the middle of the fray, posing as Olbermann via e-mail (or someone else from the site doing so) and engaging in an online fight with the Philadelphia Daily News’s Stu Bykofsky. Website Phawker had the story before it imploded, posting the following e-mail back-and-forth.
It goes on until the supposed Mr. O writes:
But I do want to correct one of the numerous errors of fact in your email: Phil Griffin did not suspend me. He doesn’t have the power or frankly the courage to do so. Once I had been (very) temporarily relieved of my duties by NBC management, Phil got on the phone to some of your fellow idiot TV columnists and tried to claim credit.
As if.
Needless to say, with the hoax still yet to be unraveled, the exchange caused a stir—but cracks began to appear when Keith Olbermann sent out the followng Tweet this afternoon.
Now Michael Calderone has the story behind the story, which may ring familiar to anyone who has seen the recent film “Catfish.”
Tucker Carlson boasted last July that his site, The Daily Caller, bought the domain name for liberal MSNBC host Keith Olbermann. Carlson, a conservative journalist and pundit, even said he would start using the email address keith@keitholbermann.com as a gag.
So it was interesting to see that Olbermann allegedly sent some angry emails to the Philadelphia Daily News’ Stu Bykofsky using the email address keith@keitholbermann.com.
Bykofsky claimed the exchange was “guaranteed 100% for real.”And he later confirmed to Jim Romenesko that he was writing to keith@keitholbermann.com.
Although emails were indeed sent back and forth, it wasn’t Olbermann on the other end.
An MSNBC spokesman confirmed the emails are fake, and Olbermann responded in a statement to The Upshot: “Mr. Bykofsky has been, I would suggest, hoist on his own petard.”
Well, I'm waiting for any of you journos to let your audience know if this kind of malicious impersonation is a crime. It's definitely a crime in New York.
S 190.25 Criminal impersonation in the second degree.
A person is guilty of criminal impersonation in the second degree when
he:
1. Impersonates another and does an act in such assumed character with
intent to obtain a benefit or to injure or defraud another; or
2. Pretends to be a representative of some person or organization and
does an act in such pretended capacity with intent to obtain a benefit
or to injure or defraud another; ...
Article 190 - Penal Law - Other Frauds
I'd say both MSNBC and Olbermann has a case here. I'd just love it if they threw his butt in jail, and sued him for every bow tie he owns.
#1 Posted by James, CJR on Tue 9 Nov 2010 at 09:43 PM
I don't have much respect for Tucker Carlson to begin with, but for serious? Is he a child? I'm stunned that someone in his position would jeopardize his credibility by pulling such a patently ridiculous prank.
Oh, wait, no I'm not. I think they all know pranks like those won't jeopardize them at all.
#2 Posted by laura k, CJR on Wed 10 Nov 2010 at 07:25 PM
The Philadelphia Daily journalist initiated the email exchange by emailing to the wrong address. He clearly didn't do any research. It's not like Tucker Carlson is hacking into Keith's account or spamming with the fake Keith address. He replied to someone who was too dumb to find the right one.
#3 Posted by LB, CJR on Thu 11 Nov 2010 at 12:08 PM
I believe it is still illegal to maliciously impersonate another person. Olbermann was the innocent person here -- he neither initiated the exchange nor owned the domain. Carlson clearly obtained the domain with malicious intent. Childish, juvenile intent, criminal intent. Even rightwing dumbasses ought to be able to understand that.
#4 Posted by Tom, CJR on Thu 11 Nov 2010 at 01:05 PM