VIDEO: MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell melts down on stagehands in profanity filled rant for eight minutes
MSNBC anchor Lawrence O’Donnell went off the rails during breaks in his show in a series of clips obtained Mediaite.
“Someone in that control room is out of control,” O’Donnell says before dropping an F-bomb and more cursing before appearing to come back “live” in the August 29th broadcast.
The footage shows O’Donnell absolutely losing control, screaming at his producers and stagehands, hurling profanities, and pounding on his desk like a child.
Mediate has the full video, but TMZ captured a key clip, where O’Donnell appears to jump from his seat, to scream at one of the stagehands managing his setup.
“What’s going on, why am I losing this, why don’t I have sound,” he starts, voice rising. “Who’s asking for a Labor Day rundown in my ear?”
“God dammit,” he mutters, shaking his head, before bursting into a brief spasm of fury and slamming his fists on the desk.
In the next clip, O’Donnell finishes up a segment, and declares: “There’s insanity in the control room tonight.” He then begins to visibly shake with anger, but manages to hold his tongue, and continues reading from the prompter.
“You have insanity in my earpiece,” O’Donnell then seethes through tightly drawn lips. “F**kin.”
The full video goes on like that for eight minutes, as O’Donnell jumps up and down, drops f-bomb after f-bomb, and blubbers about an earpiece malfunction.
As soon as O’Donnell goes off air, his entire facial expression changes, from concerned news anchor to deranged maniac and he lashes out over his faulty microphone.
“What’s going on, why am I losing this, why don’t I have sound,” he starts.“Who’s asking for a Labor Day rundown in my ear? God dammit,” he sputters, before launching into a full-fledged attack on his desk, pounding the set with his fists and pouting.
He then waits until the next commercial break to scream about his earpiece again, but by then, someone has started jackhammering or pounding in a neighboring studio, and whatever semblance of sanity O’Donnell had been hanging on to, falls through his fingers in a tirade of profanity.
“STOP THE HAMMERING UP THERE. WHO’S GOT A HAMMER? WHERE IS IT? WHERE’S THE HAMMER? GO UP ON THE OTHER FLOOR. SOMEBODY GO UP THERE AND STOP THE HAMMERING. STOP THE HAMMERING. I’LL GO DOWN TO THE GODDAMNED FLOOR MYSELF AND STOP IT, KEEP THE GODDAMNED COMMERCIAL BREAK GOING. CALL F**KING PHIL GRIFFIN, I DON’T CARE WHO THE F**K YOU HAVE TO CALL. STOP THE HAMMERING. EMPTY OUT THE GODDAMNED CONTROL ROOM AND FIND OUT WHERE THIS IS GOING ON.”
“F**king out of control sh*t,” he finishes.
Finally, having calmed down, during the next commercial break, he yells about a poorly edited clip and balls up a piece of paper he’s been furiously moving around his desk, tossing it on the floor in a final act of defiance against a night that just won’t go his way.
He apologized yesterday, tweeting:
A better anchorman and a better person would’ve had a better reaction to technical difficulties. I’m sorry.
— Lawrence O’Donnell (@Lawrence) September 20, 2017
Can anyone say “hostile work environment?”
