Mr. Keillor claimed that they continued to be friends “right up until her lawyer called.”

He insisted his discomfort with physical affection was common knowledge, adding, “If I had a dollar for every woman who asked to take a selfie with me and who slipped an arm around me and let it drift down below the beltline, I’d have at least a hundred dollars.”

Mr. Keillor is one of many public figures to face consequences after allegations of sexual misconduct in recent weeks. Indeed, just a day earlier, he had come to the defense of his friend and fellow Minnesotan, Senator Al Franken, who is fighting for his political life in the face of accusations of improprieties from four women.

In an op-ed for The Washington Post published on Tuesday evening, Mr. Keillor said calls for the senator’s resignation were “pure absurdity” and dismissed a photograph of the Democrat with his hands on a woman’s chest as something “in a spirit of low comedy.”

The fallout with the network came as Mr. Keillor was slowly receding from the public stage, though he has still been touring, with appearances around the Northeast this week. On Wednesday, he canceled a performance scheduled that night in Pittsfield, Mass.

He originally came up with the idea for his own Americana variety program in 1974 after he traveled to Nashville to write about the Grand Ole Opry for The New Yorker.

“A Prairie Home Companion” became a radio institution, peaking at 4.1 million weekly listeners a decade before he retired, with lucrative live performances and merchandise that included recordings, books and clothes.