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I have a preview from tonight’s Late Show monologue. (see below). But, first, I’ve obtained an excerpt from today’s taping with David Letterman apologizing for the attention and inquiries that have been aimed at his staff and family:
“I’m terribly sorry that I put the staff in that position. Inadvertently, I just wasn’t thinking ahead. And, moreover, the staff here has been wonderfully supportive to me, not just through this furor, but through all the years that we’ve been on television and especially all the years here at CBS, so, again, my thanks to the staff for, once again, putting up with something stupid I’ve gotten myself involved in.
“Now the other thing is my wife, Regina. She has been horribly hurt by my behavior, and when something happens like that, if you hurt a person and it’s your responsibility, you try to fix it. And at that point, there’s only two things that can happen: either you’re going to make some progress and get it fixed, or you’re going to fall short and perhaps not get it fixed, so let me tell you folks, I got my work cut out for me.”
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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If nothing else, one must give the man kudos for his honesty.
he is so “honest” because he HAS TO BE.
this story was going to break BIG and he is trying to do damage control. if this didnt happen obviously Dave would NOT have apologized to ANYONE.
Dont you find it incredibly callous and cruel that its taking a serious court case to make him do a simple apology to his wife & staff? AND HE HAS TO DO IT ON AIR? wtf?
Why didnt he just do an apology last month for instance? you know right after apologizing to Palin and her young daughter. ???
and if his foolin around wasnt so serious like all of you pro-Letterman crowd say it is, why is he even saying he is sorry?
hmmm?
what a farce. what a comedy of errors….
He’s saying he’s sorry his staff is in this position. The one his having been the victim of extortion has caused.
But having a consensual sexual relationship with an adult is not a crime. Do you not believe comedians are allowed to have sex?
The impression I received was that Letterman wasn’t sorry for using subordinate staff members for sexual release; just sorry that the staffers were being bothered by the press.
how do you know he hasn’t apologized to his wife and staff before this, in private?
and for those of you demanding an apology for Palin, guess what, he already has!
i think while Letterman is in an apologizing mindset, he should also offer a real sincere apology to Palin and her youngest daughter dont you? what he did to both of them was horrible & disgusting.
also, Letterman is only being so “honest” because this case is going to begin and its spin control.
why didnt he offer all of these apologies a year ago? lord knows he has been cheating & sleeping around for awhile now.
Lu-ee, you’re one of the cement-headed right wingers who are still lying about that incident. It is clear to anyone with a functioning brain that Letterman was not referring to Palin’s youngest daughter with that joke, he was refering to the other daughter — the one that got knocked up out of wedlock! He already apologized but you’re all going to keep harping on it to try to exaggerate its significance. Give up, you sound pathetic. Oh, and “horrible” is a better description of Palin’s malignant lying about “death panels” that never existed and never would have existed, and “disgusting” is a better description of her greed motivated abandonment of her office as Governor.
No one is confusing who Letterman meant with that comment, it was obvious that he made reference to the wrong daughter, but really, does that make it any more acceptable? You say he was referring to the other daughter “the one that got knocked up out of wedlock!”. Wow, what about all that liberal tolerance I keep hearing about. That other daughter was also under statutory age at the time. Does that really make his comment acceptable?? It sure looks to me like Dave considers any young woman “fair game”. Nice. Real Nice.
Why are you assuming we are all liberals? Some of us just hate self righteous hypocrites who tried to shove their dogma down our throats, while singing a different tune behind close doors.Sarah and Bristol Palin seem to fit that bill nicely.One was for the middle class America and against hollywood/east coast elites, before quitting on her governorship to be a celebrity, while the other wants to promote abstinence after having her cherry popped.
“You say he was referring to the other daughter “the one that got knocked up out of wedlock!”. Wow, what about all that liberal tolerance I keep hearing about. That other daughter was also under statutory age at the time. Does that really make his comment acceptable?? It sure looks to me like Dave considers any young woman “fair game”. Nice. Real Nice”
Do you how a clue what you are talking about with this
statutory age nonsense? Don’t answer that, it was a rhetorical question.As for dave considering “any young women” fair game, guess all those men he has made fun of over the years must have been secretly young females in disguise.
it’s not a lack of liberal tolerance, it’s the hypocrisy of the abstinence-only crowd
Liberals are tolerant of a lot of things but right wing hypocrisy isn’t one of them. It’s funny how right wingers denounce unwed pregnancy if it’s in the hood, but when it’s Palin’s kid suddenly it’s a beautiful thing and “a blessing”, or they want to lock up illegal drug users until it’s that oxycontin gorging Rush Limbaugh and then they have nothing but sympathy for the drug user. And if Bristol’s sex life is off-limits as a topic why did they parade her and Levi around in front of cameras for the entire world to see (remember John McCain hugging them like they were the perfect couple instead of the dumb, irresponsible teenagers they really are?). Dave made a joke! Stop trying to exaggerate it into something more.
Lu-ee, there is nothing Letterman can say to pacify the Sarah Palin followers of this world. He apologized, but it was not “sincere” enough for you. Nothing short of handing that woman the presidency will make you all feel better. Please give us all a break with the righteous indignation you display with your dave letterman outrage. there are so many real issues affecting young women today, but I don’t think you care about that at all. the dave letterman issue is nothing more than an excuse for you to continue shoving Palin down our throats.
I would suggest that if he was being honest, he wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with. He’s confessed, which is much different.
That is ridiculous. You think Dave would have said anything if the CBS lawyers didn’t make him? He got caught and now he has no choice but to try to save face. Don’t commend him for being a douche-bag.
Ok, these replies to my post must have come from some right-wing blog or Drudge Report. The faux indignation, lack of the facts, and Sarah Palin support give you away.
And it makes me wonder if you all aren’t the same person, seeing you are all on the same theme.
Ummmmm, nooooo, many of us are regular readers of NF and just happen to have morals….
Sure you do. You only have morals that you apply to others, not yourselves.
Why would he have talked about his sexual life with his audience before this?
He is a comedian. Who cares who he sleeps with as long as its consensual which it was in this case. He’s not Polanski. Sorry the comedian told a joke about your precious Sarah Palin. Get over it.
Why laud Letterman for his honesty when it was dishonesty that got him into this mess in the first place?
Let the Top 10 Begin…
David Letterman NEEDS to STOP using his audience for his mess. He needs to quit bringing his audience into his personal life especially since some in his audience were laughing “nervously” the first announcement. Stop it Dave! You have a very long trial ahead of you and everything said now just might matter later on down the road! Please be quiet. You must be looking for the sympathy fans or maybe perhaps not.
Retire David Letterman with your legacy intact and your dignity!
It sounds like you find it more uncomfortable than he does. I think his honesty is refreshing in a very image controlled world. Part of it maybe calculated image rehab, but it seems genuine. However, from a legal perspective, he might want to shut up.
I do seem to notice that he is generally staying within his own comfort zone by only talking about it on his own show where he has absolute control.
I’m sure his publicity people are telling them that he has to appear somewhere else or run the risk of appearing like he’s trying to cover his own ass with his own show.
His “refreshing honesty” is carefully crafted word by word. It remains to be seen how well it plays when it’s deposition time.
Please, the guys an asshole and no he should not apologize to the ridicules Sarah Palin.
I don’t know why people keep saying the laughter was “nervous”–and I know you did put that in scare quotes, but, people were laughing because the story was funny. Dark, but funny. What’s hard to understand about that? I thought it was a masterful piece of storytelling, of comedy, of broadcasting, and of damage control.
Why should he retire? He’s going to do what everyone smart (yes you can argue he was dumb to get himself in this situation but …) does in this situation: apologize to everyone, perform his mea culpas, chastise himself repeatedly, “change his life”, and come out even more popular than before. If he retires he’s essentially saying “Yes, what I did was so terrible that I shouldn’t be on the air anymore polluting your lives” and his legacy, which I suspect you actually don’t care much for, is destroyed. If he shuts up about it people will assume he’s ashamed, and therefore guilty. The only smart thing to do is stay on the air and be completely frank with his audience.
Now if it comes out he has some massively deviant sexual practices, banged everything that came through the door, or there’s some horrible business between him and the guy who extorted him, that’s another story. But if it’s a couple of “affairs” (when he wasn’t married), then he’s going to be fine.
Agreed. The media (and this little Palin supporters) will try to blow this out of proportion. But the bottom line is, extramarital affairs are not illegal. Dave isn’t going to be in court for years like OJ or Michael Jackson, he didn’t rape anyone..etc. He might be facing a nasty divorce but that’s about it.
It was a brilliant move to do a preemptive strike to diffuse the backlash.
I disagree. I appreciate his honesty so much and he is an example of how to handle a hot mess, with a straightforward, take no prisoners attitude. Everybody will know about it! Why not tackle it in a way, that no other politician or celebrity has before, honestly. These rag magazines will be yacking about it for ages, why shouldn’t he??? I think you are wrong wrong wrong!!!!!!! I love that he is addressing the elephant in the room! I am proud of Dave!
Dear Dave:
Nice of you to take to the airwaves again to plead your case, but trust me, your problems are only just begining…
Signed,
A Disgusted Viewer
I just don’t get the posts here. What can anyone do to Dave besides 1. Divorce him or 2. Stop watching the show.
Dave might get divorced but he and that show are going nowhere. For every “Disgusted Viewer” like you, there are thousands of die hard fans who love Dave.
I’d LOVE to know what these “problems” are. Sounds like a threat from the inside to me.
I’m guessing Dave won’t step down anytime soon–but a departure date will eventually be announced.
This is way past spin control and falls into genuine and sincere . This is not a Hollywood apology its kind of impressive given the circumstances and humility it takes to say i’m sorry and mean it , even if ratings are involved . I can’t think of a better way to spin this and I know he has been offered several ways that don’t include his choice which made me less cynical , a very rare glimpse of a person .
Apologize for what? When will this sex phobic culture finally shed this infantile obsessiveness and step up to the 21st Century?
He should apologize for cheating on his wife (and formally girlfriend of around 20 years). I’m just gonna go out on a limb here and guess they agreed (either explicity or implicity) at the beginning not to sleep around with other people.
Who cares if you think the current value system should change; they were still operating in the old, traditional one, and he screwed up.
Obviously you have never been on the negative side of an office romance, nor have you ever lost out on a promotion to someone who had an “advantage” over you.
If you had, you’d understand why what he did was wrong.
Letterman is stepping up. ’nuff said.
…seems like Letterman is “stepping into it.”
Yes, Dave is stepping up. Just like Jimmy Swaggart.
Well evidently there is a lot more to the story than Dave is letting on. It will be interesting to hear the real story.
Howard Stern was on fire discussing this mess earlier today.
He argued the show is exciting now, because the subject is forbidden and Dave now has a lusty side – must see tv
There is more to the story than Dave is telling according to the DA.
Make that Defense Attorney. And he has to do something to earn his salary. This is pretty open and shut, they have his client on tape discussing this and he ‘cashed’ the dupe check. He can’t exactly argue the facts.
#1. “Look, you’re ugly.”
Go ahead and steal that one, hacks.
You’re finest work, Sir.
I continue to be astonished that this non-story story continues to be about the private life of Mr.Letterman, rather than the arrest – by the top rated District Attorney office in America – of a “award-winning” CBS journalist, Mr. Halderman.
His lawyer – once a mouthpiece for John Giotti – is trying to extend the current tabloid narrative on the morning tv shows.
I wish the focus would be on the lowlife who planted a threat in the guise of a “screenplay,” than ona man who has not been accussed by anyone, of anything.
I totally agree. The fascinating story is Mr. Halderman. What was up with this guy…other than a well-respected producer of 48 hours?
Give the guy a break. There’s no “right answer” now…
“I’m terribly sorry that I put the staff in that position…” Not a particularly good choice of words considering the subject.
Hard to feel sympathy for a guy who is both a serial abuser of subordinates (sexually and otherwise) and just an all around nasty son-of-a-bitch.
I think it’s time to call it a day Dave.
My God, you’re an idiot….
Bigtime.
I cannot believe the shit I’ve been taking over the wknd for expressing my digust at Letterman. I’m not a prude – far from it! But I have a real problem with a grown ass man (in a committed relationship, no less) who uses his position and power to seduce underlings. I’m sure in his mind he thought it was consensual, and to that I say, “Har!” Few if any of those women would have agreed had he not been David Letterman, I imagine. That was a huge part of the allure! He ought to have practiced adult restraint and kept it zipped up, most especially on the job. Like I heard someone say on TV – “They knew what they were doing (the women), but he should have known better.” We live in a culture that refuses to accept or assign blame. When Britney Spears was spiraling out of control her fans were loathe to place any blame her way. Didn’t matter she was a danger to others, herself or her children. What the fuck is wrong with being held accountable? No one is asking for Letterman to be burned at the stake or castrated. Shit.
Letterman is holding himself completely accountable. Did you not read what he said?
And you say these women would never be with him if he wasn’t David Letterman? Meaning if he wasn’t their boss or if he wasn’t a comedic genius? There’s been no accusations made that it’s the former. None of the women are claiming there was any pressure put on them or that it was in any way sexual harassment. Adult women are allowed to have sex with whomever they want to. Sorry if that bothers you.
Yes golly the problem with America is certainly that we refuse assign blame. What we need are more witch hunts into the private lives of the citizenry, because those are always productive and fair.
In truth, if what you’re really looking for is adult restraint and consent, this is probably the best thing that could happen. Every celebrity, CEO, politician, etc., is reading the paper right now and saying “I don’t want to be next”. This may be good for Letterman’s ratings but it’s going to be painful and horrible, and nobody’s envying him that.
Until a woman steps forward and claims impropriety, I’ll assume it was consensual adult sex and continue to consider the person who attempted to extort millions of dollars for a (gasp) sex secret to be the only bad guy here.
And by not acquiescing to the extortionist, Letterman IS holding himself accountable. He’s being an adult and accepting the consequences of his actions in the court of public opinion. He could have EASILY cut a $2 million check and never missed the money. Wag your finger at the criminal here. You know, the extortionist.
Accountable for what? 2 people having sex? Puh-lease.
To you I say, “Har!”
I see. Let me get this straight; you’re saying the women were stupid and starstruck and lacking any ability to make their own decisions, despite being competent, college educated, consenting adults. This despite NONE of the women involved having a bad thing to say about Letterman, one even going so far as to say he was a complete gentleman and a genuinely nice guy. You say she’s an idiot who doesn’t know what she’s talking about, right?
We don’t live in a culture that refuses to assign blame. On the contrary, our culture assigns blame, knee-jerk reacts and with it’s short attention span, rarely waits for the full story to unfold. Like what you’re doing here. Our ‘culture’ as you put it, instead, hates taking responsibility choosing to blame others for its failings, trying to spin the story to it’s own benefit.
This is why I’ve found Letterman’s mea culpa to be genuine; he hasn’t blamed anyone for his actions instead, he’s taken full responsibility and tried to protect the women involved. A scumbag tried to blackmail him, and instead of trying to cover it up, he went straight to the authorities knowing full well it would go public. That’s a stand-up way to handle your business. Who’s not taking responsibility? The guy charged with blackmailing Letterman, that’s who.
As far as Brittney Spears goes, I don’t know where you’ve been living lately but when she was doing her batshit crazy routine, she was ridiculed and mocked mercilessly. As it turns out, she has genuine mental issues and when she’s on her meds, shes a better person. People stopped blaming her when it came out she was severely bi-polar and her father took over her affairs. I’m not a fan of hers, but honestly it’s old news, get over it.
I think a better example here is John Ensign. This asshole actually has his buddy and fellow senator, Tom Coburn negotiate with his blackmailer to cover up his infidelity. I still haven’t heard him accept responsibility for his conduct.
Correction: It was a lawyer not the DA who says there is more to the story. We’ll find out. Dave just quit for your staff’s sake and put someone else in there.
So he should quit and put them out of work. While Letterman owns the show, CBS owns the time slot. There is no guarantee they want someone else in there. But it really it must be the best thing because some internet back seat driver has said so. You know someone so up on the facts that they cannot even tell the difference between the District Attorney of NYC and the defense attorney.
That’s right it isn’t just some attorney. Let me put this in very simple terms, the lawyer claiming there is more to the story is being paid to defend a jerk attempted to blackmail Letterman, was recorded making arrangements for s 2 million dollars payoff and cashed the fake check triggering his arrest. How is the lawyer going to defend someone when there is that kind of evidence? Trying to confuse the issue and putting the victim on trial in the public in order to nullify the jury appears to be their strategy, and probably the only one possible.
That’s right. Letterman is the victim of the crime here, the only one. No one who actually works for Letterman is claiming harassment. The women who had relationships with him, say nice things about him. It is pretty screwed up, that so many people get lost in the titillation when someone says sex they miss the fact that the crime isn’t the sex, but the blackmail.
I just wanted to get on here before the Drudgites start spewing their absurdities. Everyone who has ever worked in this business, or any other high pressure 16 hour a day job (like politics,) knows how easy it is to jump into bed with a co-worker; they’re the only people you EVER see. Where you get into trouble is when you lie about it. And so far, I think Letterman’s contrition has been nothing but forthright. Our politicians could learn a thing about handling a scandal from ole Uncle Dave.
What scandal? I thought it was all consenting adults here? Oh, maybe you mean that extortion dude….yeah, that would be the scandal…..except Dave is the one using the word creepy to describe himself and his actions. He must have said it a half-dozen times alone in his first monologue on the matter.
Why is he sorry? Why is it creepy. The extortionist is creepy, right? Could it be that Dave Letterman’s somehow feeling guilt here or is it just to keep the midwest happy that he pretends to be all guilt-ridden? If it’s no big deal why isn’t he all over the guy who did the illegal act vs. being so hard on himself? Wait, I know why….because he is actually a better, more advanced man than the rest of us. He knows what he did is no big deal but to ensure that all the sexual puritans out there don’t stop watching his show he’ll feign shame for his actions to receive absolution. What he did was fine. No one got hurt.
So, he couldn’t actually be sorry. What is there to be sorry for, other than getting caught, I guess.
I knew I’d figure it out.
Correction: It was not the DA but another lawyer. Oh well Dave should quit for the staff sake.
Letterman’s comedy was that of the midwestern straight-laced guy making fun of the high-flyers in politics and culture: Mark Sanford, Larry Craig, David Vitter, and John Ensign. With a dose of Bill Clinton. Guys like Spitzer, particularly John Edwards, Gavin Newsome, and Antonio Villaraigosa, never came in for ribbing, the few Spitzer jokes to the contrary. Letterman chose a fairly partisan slant, with an extra dose of Midwestern probity, in mocking other guys fooling around.
Now Letterman is caught doing what Joe Average would get fired for, and be on the hook for penalties: sexual harassment. Having sex with staffers who work for him. At its best, Letterman, the guy with questionable sex appeal, validates the SNL “Tom Brady on Sexual Harassment” i.e. if a big shot does it it is OK. Right alongside Roman Polanksi’s privilege as a big shot.
At its worst, Letterman’s comedy, deeply based on his cornpone roots as a Midwestern Garrison Keilor type, falls apart completely.
I don’t think Letterman will be yanked. He won’t be fired. His ratings will steadily erode I think, to the point where CBS will seriously think of replacing him with Kimmel or Ferguson. This is not going away. TMZ and the other tabs will be all over every icky detail, from his love nest on top of the Ed Sullivan studio (don’t think Kimmel, Stewart, Conan, Jay, and even Ferguson won’t have fun with that one, not to mention SNL) to the various hires who were his professional girlfriends. And yes, everyone will assume that female staffers at Worldwide Pants slept their way through their jobs. I would be shocked if lawyers were not trolling through the ex employee lists of World Wide Pants looking for clients. Discovery is not fun. If a non-entity like John Gosselin can have every move chronicled imagine what fun the Tabs/People/US Weekly etc. will have with Letterman.
It is not up to lawyers to troll for clients who “might” have a case against Worldwide Pants, so discussing any potential discovery is WAY premature- besides which, discovery is also no picnic for someone who is bringing any potential case, esp. against a guy with his resources. I’ve sat through countless depositions where there are real victims and they have a tough time proving their case- here, coming out only after an affair becomes public, most people will see that as trying to take advantage of a bad situation, not a real claim. the only one who will do well will be Dave’s lawyers who will earn tons of $$ defending any potential suit- so whisky, go do another shot before you opine on things above your head.
the real focus is and should be on the dirtbag who tried to blackmail someone for their personal failings. Blackmail is a very serious crime and I hope he ends up doing real time- maybe he can produce an episode of Locked Up for msnbc?
One more thing Whiskey-breath– the reason letterman and other comedians (Steward, Leno, Maher, SNL, etc) go after Rethuglicans is because they are friggin’ moralistic hypocrites! They pursue an agenda and policies that have an impact on other people and behind closed doors do things they publicly rail against. Cheating on your spouse- bad if you are the spouse being cheated on whether you are Rep. or Dem. Acting like you are a saint/moral leader? then you are cheating the public and as such, you deserve all the abuse comedians can toss your way.
It is not sexual harassment if it’s consensual. And Letterman was not caught doing anything illegal like having public sex in a bathroom like Larry Craig. He did not rape an underage girl like Polanski.
This WILL go away because, ultimately, it’s boring. And it’s people like you who hope it wont go away, and align this man with criminals, because, ultimately, you are boring.
TMZ and the other tabs will move on as soon as Hasselhoff publicly rubs herb butter on his nuts at Moonshadows or something.
Say what you want about Conan, but he’d never do something like this with his staff, or make a spectacle of it after the fact.
Say what about Conan? Apples and oranges, dumb.
Well, the Appalachian Trail joke was pretty good. Agree with some of the above that Dave might regret playing elements of this story for laughs, especially if he has to talk hard details in open court.
Best way to combat that is by NOT watching his show and see his viewship decline. He was honest in what he said but using this forum as a way to get it out makes it sleazy and his staff and his wife should be insulted by his actions. This guy is going over the edge as of late and it’s time to put him in his place or oust him out!
I always knew he was a douche-bag. Now I have proof. I win!
ugh im already sick of this
Like any observant fan of the show didn’t suspect that there was something sexual going on with Dave and that young woman from their on-camera skits together. Especially when she’d find him annoying in a very familiar kind of way. Dave has always been a class act and a role model and the way he’s handling this matter makes me respect and admire him all the more. Adults, especially single adults, hook up with other (single) adults all the time. Sometimes at work. The girl has said Dave was always wonderful and generous to her and so the only one Dave owes an explanation to is his then girlfriend. David Letterman has a TV show and he’s human. He had a physical relationship with a willing younger female. OMG, I can hardly wrap my mind around that.
Ha. I remember watching Letterman back in the late 90′s and every time “Monty” was on, I could tell there was something between them.
I’m amazed that this situation is drawing the fire that it has
but that Polankski’s “special” circumstances allow some to think
that he should walk free…strange indeed