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Itinerant news anchor and malcontent Keith Olbermann is suing Current TV, which fired him late last week, for violating his contract and torpedoing his show, to the tune of $70 million in damages and unpaid compensation.

Olbermann says that the inept “Al Gore, Joel Hyatt and the management of Current are no more than dilettantes portraying entertainment industry executives.”

Keith claims his “public termination” was “the latest in a series of increasingly erratic and unprofessional actions undertaken by Current’s senior management.”

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Hilariously, Olbermann actually accuses Current of enticing him to leave MSNBC – which unceremoniously canned him also – by making promises it failed to deliver on.

Keith says Current is so dysfunctional and broke after the network’s first eight months on the air that is “still couldn’t manage to, literally, keep the lights on.”

Olbermann is suing for breach of contract, sabotage and disparagement.

Current responded that he’s liar, a bully and a terrible person, basically.

The network has fired back at the Countdown host, claiming his $70 million lawsuit is “false and malicious” and Olbermann got fired for breach of contract.

 
“Serial, material breaches of his contract,” in fact, “including failure to show up at work, sabotaging the network and attacking Current and its executives.”

A rep for Current added, “As the old adage says: ‘When the law is on your side, you argue the law. When the facts are on your side, you argue the facts.”

“When neither the law nor the facts are on your side, pound the table.'”

“We will be happy to engage on the law and the facts. It is well established that over his career, Mr. Olbermann has specialized in pounding the table.”

The network concludes with this: “We hope Mr. Olbermann understands that when it comes to the legal process, he is actually required to show up.”

[Photo: WENN.com]