Garrison Keillor, former host of a radio show that celebrated Midwestern values and prairie populism, told the Associated Press that he’d been fired over what he describes as “improper behavior”: 
 
 Garrison Keillor, the former host of “A Prairie Home Companion,” says he’s been fired by Minnesota Public Radio over allegations of improper behavior. 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.” Keillor even managed a joke of sorts: “Getting fired is a real distinction in broadcasting and I’ve waited fifty years for the honor. Give credit to Keillor for setting a new world’s record in Takes That Aged Badly. Even Franken’s remarkably stupid, hostile, and puerile picture just becomes “low comedy” in Keillor’s eyes, even though Tweeden makes it clear she didn’t consent to being the butt of the joke. I had a good long run and am grateful for it and for everything else.” 
 
 Keillor’s story sounds pretty tame … but also a little weird, too. “I’m in shock,” new host Thile wrote on Twitter. 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. In a follow-up statement, he says he was fired over “a story that I think is more interesting and more complicated than the version MPR heard.” 
 
 Keillor no longer works on PHC, but until now he still has produced “The Writer’s Almanac” for MPR. 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. I only wish it could’ve been for something more heroic.” Then he turned more serious: “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 did USO tours overseas when he was in the comedy biz,” Keillor wrote. Keillor also skips over three other allegations of groping, but manages to offer paeans to Franken for using the same kind of “broad comedy” [broad? … 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. An “atrocity” in the form of “a code of public deadliness,” that’s what: 
 
 And then there is Sen. Al Franken. No kidding.” 
 
 Keillor mentioned the Franken controversy in an e-mail to MPR News on Wednesday.
– 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.