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Keith Olbermann has responded to our story about his three-day absence late last month:

That was my first opportunity to take even a long weekend to mourn my mother's death and deal with the many sad logistics subsequent to her sudden passing. The source of this story is a liar and those who spread it without seeking confirmation or reputation are beneath contempt.

Naturally, we were saddened to hear of Olbermann's loss, and his tribute to his mother on Countdown was both honorable and deeply moving. But if that was the reason Olbermann took time off two weeks later, we can't imagine why Olbermann wouldn't have simply said as much. Furthermore, we find it hard to believe that one of his colleagues at MSNBC—an Emmy Award-winning journalist, no less—would have deliberately misled the public and attributed his absence to the "flu/allergy season" if Olbermann had made the perfectly understandable decision to take a few days to mourn his mother's passing. [Update: Gawker has spoken with a source of its own at MSNBC and is backing our account. See here.]