Keith Olbermann, our favorite television hero and a man known for dismantling the right wing lunatic fringe and standing up for American civil liberties displayed a part of his personality last night on Countdown that we don't often see. Let's just say he got his 'groove on'. In a segment with his self crowned "American Idol Princess" and regular Countdown contributor, Maria Milito, Keith derided rival CNN for trying to 'poach' her away from his program and flirted with Maria for a moment giving her a tiara to wear on the Countdown special which is to be aired this weekend on the NBC network. Not surprisingly, the princess returned the gratitude but what she said will almost certainly go down as one of the most memorable Countdown moments: she told Keith "your my pimp and I'm your ho" and added "Pimps don't share hos". This was enough for our normally astute anchor to take off his glasses and reply blushingly "why did you go down that route". It made for great television, check it out:
When I heard that line coming out of Maria's mouth, I said OMG she did not just say that. I laughed my ass off, I thought it was sweet. Keith handled the situation excellently, it just shows what a fine gentleman he is; I mean this could have come off as a major embarrassment for him and the network. Maria don't feel too bad, what you said wasn't exactly shrewd but I doubt that it got Keith in any trouble whatsoever. It's a world away from David Shuster's infamous 'pimped out' comment on Chelsea Clinton that almost cost him his job. Keith we still love you and of course the Princess and we'll most definitely continue to watch the program. In fact, I think this was a blessing in a sense for Countdown, stuff like this almost always drive up the ratings.