Keith Olbermann Last Show

Keith Olbermann Last Show

In an abrupt and unexpected ending, fiery liberal political pundit Keith Olbermann said farewell to his audience Friday night. MSNBC confirmed they terminated their contract with Olbermann, and Olbermann hinted that he had only been told earlier that day.

"When I resigned from ESPN 13 years ago, I was literally given 30 seconds to say goodbye at the very end of my last edition of Sports Center," he said at the end of his show. "With God as my witness, during the commercial break just before the emotional moment, the producer got into my earpiece and he said, 'um, can you cut it down to 15 seconds?'"

Olbermann took about 10 minutes to say his goodbyes.

The host of MSNBC's Countdown didn't elaborate on the reasons for the breakup, and neither did the company. But over the last several months, their tension broke into the public view at least once, when POLITICO broke a story that he violated NBC News standards by making campaign contributions to Democratic politicians.

Olbermann had almost completed eight years with Countdown. He started the gig as a fill-in for the late Jerry Nachman, a role he was supposed to take for only three days.

Keith Olbermann Last Show