J.P. Yim/ZUMApress.com On the grand scale of celebrity tax evaders, Keith Olbermann is leagues removed from the likes of Wesley Snipes and Willie Nelson.
But that's not stopping the MSNBC pundit's right-wing critics from launching into full attack mode.
Led by the New York Post and conservative bloggers, the cable news commentator is getting ripped for a relatively small tax bill he allegedly owes New York state.
Per a tax warrant unearthed by the site Olbermann Watch, the pundit's Los Angeles-based personal corporation, Olbermann Broadcasting Empire, has not yet paid $2,269 in back taxes to the Empire State treasury.
Now Olbermann is facing calls of hypocrisy, since he has no problem pointing out nightly the foibles of others, notably Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, on Countdown With Keith Olbermann.
Olbermann has repeatedly labeled "Bill-O" the worst in the "Worst Person In the World" segments, which has since morphed into a wider feud between the two cable news channels, often spilling over into other media. (Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. owns both Fox News and the Post.)
Responding to the tax-evasion charge, an MSNBC spokesman issued a blanket statement: "This was a bookkeeping disagreement between Keith's accountants and the state, which was resolved months ago."
That defense has yet to mollify the folks at Olbermann Watch, who say that since the Albany County Clerk lists the warrant as "still outstanding," Olbermann remains a "deadbeat."
The site also claims that this isn't the first time Olbermann has been late on his government dues, reporting that in 2003 the New York City Finance Department slapped the onetime ESPNer's personal corporation with a $446,055 judgment for failing to pay back taxes to the city treasury, a decision which was eventually vacated. The site also claims Olbermann paid his taxes late for five of the past nine years.