Washington Post drops Keillor for not disclosing conduct probe

Garrison Keillor won't pen any more columns for the Washington Post, editorial page editor Fred Hiatt said in a statement Thursday.

"Readers are entitled to a basic level of transparency from the columnists they read in The Washington Post. Garrison Keillor failed to meet that standard this week," Hiatt said.

The Post's announcement comes a day after Minnesota Public Radio and its parent company American Public Media cut ties with Keillor and "A Prairie Home Companion" while they investigate a report of "inappropriate behavior" by Keillor involving a coworker.

Hiatt's statement focused on Keillor's last column at the Post, in which he criticized calls for Sen. Al Franken to resign over allegations of sexual misconduct.

"Knowing he (Keillor) was under investigation for his workplace behavior, he should not have written a column on that subject; or, if he was going to write, he should have told his editors and readers that he was under investigation," Hiatt said.

"We have admired many of the columns Keillor has written on a weekly basis for the Washington Post syndicate and news service over the past 18 months," he added, "but we do not intend to publish his columns in the future."

The Post's statement also said it's "troubled" by MPR's report of Keillor's alleged behavior.

Keillor started writing weekly syndicated columns for the Post a year and a half ago, after he retired as host of "A Prairie Home Companion."

• Did MPR give Keillor's bad behavior a pass?
• Contractor: Prairie Home check came with strings, silence
• Investigation: For some who lived in it, Keillor's world wasn't funny