NY Post: Olbermann Threatens to Quit if Not Made 'Meet the Press' Host

Although MSNBC and NBC officials are flatly denying the allegations, the New York Post on Friday reported that Keith Olbermann is threatening to quit if he's not promoted to host "Meet the Press."

The Post also claimed that Chris Matthews was actually heard lobbying for the job during Wednesday's memorial service for Tim Russert.

As reported at the Post's "Page Six" column (h/t TVNewser):

Matthews was heard loudly discussing what seemed to be his strategy for landing Russert's "Meet the Press" show at Wednesday's memorial reception for the NBC Washington bureau chief at the Kennedy Center in DC. After Brian Williams, Carl Bernstein, David Gergen, Barbara Walters and NBC brass eulogized their friend, Matthews huddled with an unidentified "agent type" and seemed to be plotting.

According to our spy, "Chris, with his loud voice, was going over a pitch for Tim's job. He was saying, 'You know, Tim's thing was this, and my thing is that.' It was unbelievably tacky." [...]

Meanwhile, Matthews' MSNBC cable cohort Olbermann, who was also at the memorial, is "threatening to quit if he isn't installed as Russert's replacement," another insider said. "I know, it sounds ludicrous, but, then, Keith Olbermann is ludicrous."

For the record, Matthews has denied that this was what was being discussed on Wednesday. And, as TVNewser reported, NBC News senior vice president Phil Griffin has responded, "It's outrageous and it's so disgusting and it's so disrespectful of Tim's memory that Page Six would use his memorial as an occasion to slam MSNBC and NBC News."

Olbermann has also taken issue with this Post story by making "Page Six" editor Paula Froelich his "Worst Person in the World" Thursday evening.

Who's right? You decide.