Video (00:42) : Minnesota residents and fans of Garrison Keillor expressed sadness and disappointment at news that he has been accused of improper behavior. 
 
 Garrison Keillor, whose soothing voice and gentle humor helped define the world’s view of Minnesota, has been dropped by Minnesota Public Radio for “inappropriate behavior” toward a co-worker. 
 
 MPR said Wednesday it is severing all ties to the longtime host of radio’s “A Prairie Home Companion.” The show, which he handed off last year to hand-picked successor Chris Thile, will be retitled — Keillor holds the trademark — and his old broadcasts no longer will be aired. 
 
 Officials at the network would not comment beyond a statement saying they were notified last month of allegations relating to Keillor’s conduct while he was responsible for producing “PHC.” 
 
 “I put my hand on a woman’s bare back,” he told the Star Tribune by e-mail minutes after MPR’s statement. “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.” 
 
 The 75-year-old humorist who helped make MPR a powerhouse seemed more hurt, resigned and defensive than apologetic. 
 
 “It’s astonishing that 50 years of hard work can be trashed in a morning by an accusation,” he said in a Facebook post Wednesday evening. “I always believed in hard work and now it feels sort of meaningless. Only a friend can hurt you this badly. I think I have to leave the country in order to walk around in public and not feel accusing glances.” 
 
 He later deleted that public comment and then, in a post to Facebook friends (including some journalists), said he had just had a good conversation “with my dear friend who I am married to, on the subject of What Do We Really Need in Life. It’s very simple. I need her and I need to have work to do and I need to live someplace where we can both be happy. I have about ten years of work to do, sitting in my computer. I want to write a couple movies, write a weekly column (preferably humorous), write a book called Gratitude. I think we should move east and leave the past behind.” 
 
 MPR details its decision 
 
 Although he stepped away from “Prairie Home,” Keillor retained a producer credit and continued to record his daily feature, “The Writer’s Almanac,” for syndication by MPR’s distribution arm, St. Paul-based American Public Media. 
 
 Gallery Grid Prev 1 /25 Next Leila Navidi – Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor rehearsed before his last show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville in 2016. Leila Navidi – Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor rehearses a song with Aoife O'Donovan, left, and Heather Masse, right, during rehearsal at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Leila Navidi – Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor rehearses a song with Aoife O'Donovan, center, and Heather Masse, right, during rehearsal at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Leila Navidi – Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor performs with singer Aoife O�Donovan during the live broadcast at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Leila Navidi – Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor jokes around with Sara Watkins during rehearsal at the State Theatre. Leila Navidi – Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor thanks the audience after the show at the State Theatre. Leila Navidi – Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor performs a few more songs for the audience after the live broadcast has ended at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Leila Navidi – Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor reads the "News from Lake Wobegon" during the live broadcast at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Leila Navidi – Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor reads the "News from Lake Wobegon" during the live broadcast at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Leila Navidi – Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor gets ready for the live broadcast in his dressing room at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Leila Navidi – Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor sings with the audience during the encore. Leila Navidi – Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor takes a bow with the performers after the show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Leila Navidi – Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor talks with singer Heather Masse outside his dressing room after the show. Leila Navidi – Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor greets fans at the State Theatre after the show. Leila Navidi – Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor poses for a selfie with sisters Janna Graham, left, of Plymouth, and Julie Berninghaus of Eagan after the show at the State Theatre. Leila Navidi – Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor signs a poster for fan Carol Montgomerie of Franklin, Tenn. after the show. Jerry Holt – Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor talks about the early days of "Prairie Home Companion" when it originated at Macalester College. Mike Zerby – RPA - Minneapolis Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor outside the World Theater in downtown St. Paul in 1993, where he welcomed himself back home to the gathered crowd. He narrated a big-screen slide show on the history of "A Prairie Home Companion" at the welcome back street party given by Minnesota Public Radio. About 1,000 folks were treated to free entertainment and free corn on the cob. For $5, one could get meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Stormi Greener – RPA - Minneapolis Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor signed autographs in 1990 during a benefit luncheon at the Greenhaven Country Club. Proceeds went to the Anoka County Community Action Program and to the Anoka-Ramsey Community College Foundation. Duane Braley – RPA - Minneapolis Star Tribune Gallery: Fans of Garrison Keillor got conversation as well as his autograph Tuesday in Minneapolis in 1987. Donald Black – RPA - Minneapolis Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor in 1969. Stormi Greener – RPA - Minneapolis Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor in 1987. Rpa - Gallery: Garrison Keillor in 1984. Handout Gallery: Garrison Keillor in the late 1970s. Mike Zerby – RPA - Minneapolis Star Tribune Gallery: Garrison Keillor in 1974. 
 
 MPR said it would halt that feature. It also will separate itself from the Pretty Good Goods online catalog, which sells Keillor merchandise, and the website PrairieHome.org. 
 
 “I’m in shock,” new host Thile wrote on Twitter. “I know nothing beyond what’s contained in the MPR statement but I trust that the proper steps are being taken.” 
 
 The “Prairie Home” team is in New York City for three weekends of live shows beginning Saturday. Representatives refused to comment, but a Hawaii Public Radio e-mail said the working title is now “The Chris Thile Show” and its host will address the situation in his monologue Saturday. 
 
 MPR said it was aware of no similar allegations involving other staff, but “the investigation is still ongoing.” 
 
 “While we appreciate the contributions Garrison has made to MPR and to all of public radio, we believe this decision is the right thing to do and is necessary to continue to earn your trust and that of our employees,” MPR President Jon McTaggart told members in an e-mail. 
 
 Keillor later posted a statement on his website. 
 
 “I’ve been fired over a story that I think is more interesting and more complicated than the version MPR heard,” he said. “Most stories are. It’s some sort of poetic irony to be knocked off the air by a story, having told so many of them myself, but I’m 75 and don’t have any interest in arguing about this. And I cannot in conscience bring danger to a great organization I’ve worked hard for since 1969. 
 
 “I am sorry for all the poets whose work I won’t be reading on the radio and sorry for the people who will lose work on account of this. But my profound feeling is that of gratitude, especially to my wife Jenny, and for this painful experience that has brought us even closer together.” 
 
 He and Jenny Lind Nilsson, a violist for the Minnesota Opera, have been married since 1995. It is his third marriage. 
 
 Garrison Keillor speaking in 1994 about sexual harassment. 
 
 ‘Prairie Home’ history 
 
 MPR was just two years old in 1969 when its founder, Bill Kling, hired Keillor as an announcer. Together they launched “Prairie Home” on July 6, 1974, with a live broadcast from Macalester College witnessed by a handful of people. 
 
 The show began airing nationwide in 1980 and grew into a hit that fueled MPR’s growth into one of the nation’s largest public radio operations. At its peak, Keillor drew 4 million listeners every week while serving as Minnesota’s cultural ambassador, with tales of the mythical Lake Wobegon that skewered the state’s work ethic, good-hearted earthiness and humble nature. He appeared on the cover of Time magazine. His book “Lake Wobegon Days” sold more than 1 million copies in 1985. Playgirl named him one of the sexiest men in America. 
 
 In his e-mail to the Star Tribune, he said “anyone who ever was around my show can tell you that I was the least physically affectionate person in the building. Actors hug, musicians hug, people were embracing every Saturday night left and right, and I stood off in the corner like a stone statue. If I had a dollar for every woman who asked to take a selfie with me and who slipped an arm around me and let it drift down below the belt line, I’d have at least a hundred dollars. So this is poetic irony of a high order.” 
 
 A tireless writer, Keillor authored more than two dozen books, hosted cruises, contributed to major magazines and scripted a 2006 film, “A Prairie Home Companion,” a fictionalized story about the show with an all-star cast including Meryl Streep, Woody Harrelson and Lindsay Lohan. 
 
 He continued a busy schedule after leaving “Prairie Home,” touring the country with a similar live show — a performance Wednesday night in Pittsfield, Mass., was canceled — and writing occasional columns for the Washington Post News Service & Syndicate. The service said it was taking the allegations “seriously and is seeking more information about them.” 
 
 Column defending Franken 
 
 Coincidentally, Keillor defended Minnesota Sen. Al Franken in a syndicated column this week after Los Angeles radio news anchor Leeann Tweeden reported that Franken kissed and groped her without her consent during a 2006 USO tour. 
 
 “He did USO tours overseas when he was in the comedy biz,” Keillor wrote. “He did it from deep in his heart, out of patriotism, and the show he did was broad comedy of a sort that goes back to the Middle Ages. … Miss Tweeden knew what the game was and played her role and on the flight home, in a spirit of low comedy, Al ogled her and pretended to grab her and a picture was taken. Eleven years later, a talk show host in L.A., she goes public with her embarrassment, and there is talk of resignation. This is pure absurdity and the atrocity it leads to is a code of public deadliness. No kidding.” 
 
 Keillor mentioned the Franken controversy in an e-mail to MPR News on Wednesday. 
 
 “I think the country is in the grip of a mania — the whole Franken business is an absurdity — and I wish someone [would] resist it,” he wrote, “but I expect MPR to look out for itself, and meanwhile I feel awfully lucky to have hung on for so long.” 
 
 Mark Vancleave Video (03:31): July, 2016: Garrison Keillor reflects on the art of the performance as "Prairie Home" celebrated 40 years with a live show at Macalester College in St. Paul. Video (03:31): July, 2016: Garrison Keillor reflects on the art of the performance as "Prairie Home" celebrated 40 years with a live show at Macalester College in St. Paul. ||||| FILE - In this July 26, 2017 file photo, Garrison Keillor, creator and former host of, "A Prairie Home Companion," talks at his St. Paul, Minn., office. Minnesota Public Radio provided additional details... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this July 26, 2017 file photo, Garrison Keillor, creator and former host of, "A Prairie Home Companion," talks at his St. Paul, Minn., office. Minnesota Public Radio provided additional details of allegations of sexual harassment against Keillor on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018, saying his alleged... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this July 26, 2017 file photo, Garrison Keillor, creator and former host of, "A Prairie Home Companion," talks at his St. Paul, Minn., office. Minnesota Public Radio provided additional details of allegations of sexual harassment against Keillor on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018, saying his alleged... (Associated Press) FILE - In this July 26, 2017 file photo, Garrison Keillor, creator and former host of, "A Prairie Home Companion," talks at his St. Paul, Minn., office. Minnesota Public Radio provided additional details... (Associated Press) 
 
 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Public Radio provided additional details of allegations of sexual harassment against humorist Garrison Keillor on Tuesday, saying his alleged conduct went well beyond his account in November of accidentally touching a woman's bare back. 
 
 MPR said in a statement 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. 
 
 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 as it attempted to investigate the case, Keillor and his attorney refused to grant access to his computer, emails and text messages. 
 
 Keillor did not respond to an emailed request for comment from The Associated Press. He told the Star Tribune listeners were angry over his firing because they "smelled a rat" and "they know I'm not abusive." He called the woman's account "a highly selective and imaginative piece of work" drawn up by her attorney. 
 
 MPR faced a backlash from outraged Keillor fans after firing the best-selling humorist after four decades of his telling folksy stories about his fictional Minnesota hometown of Lake Wobegon. Keillor accused the station of firing him without a full investigation. Until MPR's new statement Tuesday, the only account of his actions was his. 
 
 He told the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Nov. 29 that he had simply been trying to console a co-worker. 
 
 "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," Keillor told the newspaper in an email. "I sent her an email of apology later, and she replied that she had forgiven me and not to think about it." 
 
 In a note to members Tuesday afternoon, MPR President Jon McTaggart said otherwise. 
 
 "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. 
 
 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. MPR said that employee refused to identify the alleged victim or detail what happened to her, and MPR didn't get specifics of the allegations until it received letters from the former employee Sept. 29 and from the alleged victim Oct. 22. 
 
 MPR said it notified its board Oct. 26 and launched an independent investigation a few days later. 
 
 MPR said Keillor responded to the allegations with his attorney present. MPR said Keillor and his attorney declined to give access to his computer, emails and text messages to allow a full investigation. 
 
 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." 
 
 "Unfortunately, the mediation sessions have not produced the final settlements we had hoped for," the station said. 
 
 MPR has removed from its website archived "A Prairie Home Companion" shows featuring Keillor. The network also ended broadcasts of "The Writer's Almanac," Keillor's daily reading of literary events and a poem, and ended rebroadcasts of Keillor-hosted "Prairie Home" shows. 
 
 Keillor, 75, retired in 2016 as host of "Prairie Home," a Saturday evening radio variety show he created in 1974. The show, now titled "Live from Here," continues with Keillor's hand-picked successor, mandolinist Chris Thile. ||||| Updated 7:33 p.m. | Posted 11:26 a.m. 
 
 Minnesota Public Radio and its parent organization American Public Media said Wednesday they've cut all business ties with Garrison Keillor as they investigate a report of "inappropriate behavior" by Keillor involving someone who worked with him. 
 
 Keillor, whose connections to MPR go back nearly to its founding 50 years ago, retired last year from "A Prairie Home Companion," the renowned weekly music and variety show he'd created. He continued to produce "The Writer's Almanac" for syndication. 
 
 • MPR News asks: What are your thoughts on MPR cutting ties with Garrison Keillor? 
 
 The allegations relate to Keillor's conduct while he was responsible for the production of "A Prairie Home Companion." They came to the company's attention last month and were referred to a special committee of its board for investigation, APM chief executive Jon McTaggart said. 
 
 Cutting ties with Keillor will bring several big changes, including a name change for "A Prairie Home Companion," which is hosted now by Keillor's successor, Chris Thile. 
 
 APM also said it would end rebroadcasts of "The Best of A Prairie Home Companion" hosted by Keillor, end distribution and broadcast of "The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor" and separate from the Pretty Good Goods online catalog and the PrairieHome.org website. 
 
 "While we appreciate the contributions Garrison has made to MPR and to all of public radio, we believe this decision is the right thing to do and is necessary to continue to earn your trust and that of our employees and other supporters so vital to our public service," McTaggart wrote to MPR members. 
 
 APM did not detail the nature of the claims against Keillor and executives declined substantial comment beyond the company statement, which was released shortly after Keillor sent a message to the Associated Press saying that he had been "fired" from MPR. 
 
 In an email to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Keillor wrote: "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." 
 
 Later, in a message to MPR News, he indicated that two employees had raised questions about his behavior. 
 
 "I have to respect the privacy of the two employees who made the allegations," he wrote. "I have my own recollection of events, but I don't want to take issue with Jon McTaggart's decision. I think the country is in the grip of a mania — the whole Franken business [a reference to sexual misconduct allegations against Sen. Al Franken] is an absurdity — and I wish someone who resist it (sic), but I expect MPR to look out for itself, and meanwhile I feel awfully lucky to have hung on for so long." 
 
 He also posted a separate statement saying: "I've been fired over a story that I think is more interesting and more complicated than the version MPR heard. Most stories are. 
 
 "It's some sort of poetic irony to be knocked off the air by a story, having told so many of them myself, but I'm 75 and don't have any interest in arguing about this. And I cannot in conscience bring danger to a great organization I've worked hard for since 1969." 
 
 In a Facebook post written Wednesday evening, which appeared to be removed later, Keillor said: "It's astonishing that fifty years of hard work can be trashed in a morning by an accusation. I always believed in hard work and now it feels sort of meaningless. Only a friend can hurt you this badly. I think I have to leave the country in order to walk around in public and not feel accusing glances." 
 
 Keillor, a Minnesota native, became nationally famous through broadcasts of "A Prairie Home Companion," which launched in 1974 in St. Paul. 
 
 The show still attracts about 3 million listeners weekly and brings APM, the parent company of MPR News, millions of dollars in revenue annually. However, its audience has shrunk from some 4 million listeners a decade or so ago, MPR News reported last year. 
 
 The company tapped Thile to take over the show, hoping he could grow a younger audience without alienating Keillor's fan base. 
 
 Actress Sue Scott, who worked with Garrison Keillor for 24 years on the show, said she's shocked at the news, adding she's heard from other staff and cast members who feel the same way and who want more details. 
 
 Scott said she's never known Keillor to behave in inappropriate ways. 
 
 "I saw nothing, I really I have nothing to say," Scott said. "I'm stunned. I'm still sort of trying to take it all in myself." 
 
 Keillor, 75, was scheduled to perform Wednesday night in Pittsfield, Mass. The venue, however, said Wednesday afternoon the gig had been canceled, adding, "Berkshire Theatre Group finds any victimization of people deplorable." 
 
 Keillor has several books in the works, including a just finished memoir. He also has another Prairie Home movie project which he hoped to get into production soon. 
 
 On Tuesday, the Washington Post published an essay by Keillor decrying calls for Minnesota U.S. Sen. Al Franken to resign over allegations that he groped and forcibly kissed a woman during a USO tour in 2006, before he became a senator. 
 
 "This is pure absurdity," Keillor wrote, "and the atrocity it leads to is a code of public deadliness." 
 
 Read MPR's full statement on Keillor:
– Garrison Keillor is explaining his side of the story after Minnesota Public Radio severed ties with him. In an email to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the former host of A Prairie Home Companion says the incident in question was a case of accidental contact: "I put my hand on a woman's bare back," he writes. "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." Keillor went on to say that he was "the least physically affectionate person in the building" and suggested that he had himself been the recipient of inappropriate behavior over the years. "If I had a dollar for every woman who asked to take a selfie with me and who slipped an arm around me and let it drift down below the beltline, I’d have at least a hundred dollars," he writes, calling the allegations against him "poetic irony of a high order." He added, however, that "I had a good long run and am grateful for it and for everything else.” Meanwhile, a 1994 quote from Keillor is making the rounds, as noted by a post at Hot Air: "A world in which there is no sexual harassment at all is a world in which there will not be any flirtation," he said during a speech.