Jay Leno On Letterman Extortion Plot

COMMENTS (46)

• For people with comprehension problems, Letterman did not have sex with interns. No one has ever said interns except those outside the situation trying to reference Clinton. The terms was staffers or staff. And while you can make a case that cheating on his long term girlfriend would be an ethical and moral lapse, there is no question that he was never accused of sexual harassment, and never involved with a minor (in fact all reports indicate the term minor wouldn’t ever have been a factor, nor would ‘girl’).

  At least get it right from the pedestal folks.

  Comment by Pat — Saturday October 3, 2009 @ 11:28am PDT  Reply to this post

• Jay’s 10P show is a huge disappointment. From the boring montage opening to the unfunny skits, Jay’s enthusiasm surely has taken a turn for the worse.

  I believe his age has caught up with him. What he needs are new writers and producers to kick the show up a few notches. Plus, he needs a great warm-up guy/sidekick like me!!!

  That would be awesome! Two Emersonians working on air on the same show.

  As for Letterman, sex is sex. There’s nothing wrong with having sex with anyone, even if on your staff. As long as you’re not involved in a relationship, it’s a free country.

  So… any female who wants to work for me, as of now, I’m single!

  Comment by Steve Howard — Saturday October 3, 2009 @ 12:12pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • “There’s nothing wrong with having sex with anyone, even if on your staff. As long as you’re not involved in a relationship, it’s a free country.”

    What about the staff members who aren’t boffing the boss, who see an assistant suddenly turn into an on-air actor, no doubt getting paid a little extra for that, and seeing her career advance, perhaps a little quicker than an assistants’ should. You think they feel like there’s nothing wrong with it?

    Comment by Dan In NYC — Saturday October 3, 2009 @ 12:41pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Letterman was right. He is a creep. I guess if you wanted to get promoted in Letterman’s company you had to do so “on your knees…and on your back…”

  Comment by Pat — Saturday October 3, 2009 @ 12:20pm PDT  Reply to this post

• So Jay finally gets a funny joke off… finally…

  Comment by HelenofPeel — Saturday October 3, 2009 @ 1:04pm PDT  Reply to this post

• While some believe there should have been some ‘honor among theives’ code among the other late nighters to leave Dave alone, I think he’s fair game as long as the jokes aren’t cruel, and above all, that they are funny enough to have been worth the risk.

  This is all that Jay’s army of writers could come up with?

  Why did he even bother?

  Team Dave.

  Comment by uncle vanya — Saturday October 3, 2009 @ 2:08pm PDT  Reply to this post

• If the shoe was on the other foot, you can take it to the bank that Letterman would be all over Leno with jokes. Frankly, Jay went very light on Dave. He could have piled on and gone real ugly, but he didn’t. Dave would have brought out all of the mud to sling at Jay.

  Dave is a rat, no BS.

  All of that said, Leno’s show won’t make it to May.

  Comment by Reality Check — Saturday October 3, 2009 @ 2:36pm PDT  Reply to this post

• You progressive types should be ashamed of yourselves. Employees can not have ‘consensual sex’ with the boss – not just the boss but the head of a media empire. There’s a slight imbalance of power between the coffee girl and Letterman, and she can be forgiven if she thought her rapid rise from emptying trash cans to appearing on-air was in any way tied to her doing the boss.

  The level of misogyny among the so-called feminists is depressing. I’m sure Gloria Steinem herself supports both Polanski and Letterman, favoring her liberal ideology over the principles of feminism she helped take root.

  Nowadays a 13-year old is a slut who was hardly a virgin and basically asking for it, and twenty-something junior staffers can sleep their way to the middle with their 60-year old boss and it’s no big deal, just two adults doing whatever. More than that, both of them men here are the ‘real victims’.

  Take a step back and think about what you’re saying here. You’re espousing the neanderthal values and attitudes you constantly (and mistakenly) attribute to conservatives. You’ve got it completely backwards on both stories.

  Comment by Joe Melnick — Saturday October 3, 2009 @ 6:00pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • A complete ban on workplace relationships is ill advised. Where do you meet people if you’re a busy professional? (Specifically, where would a guy like David Letterman meet people, with his schedule an inability to move around in public?) Many happy relationships have started in the workplace.

    Another pet peeve: the “linguistic” argument. Employees/13-year olds “can’t consent.” So you can just shut down discussion by redefining words? I’m willing to listen to intelligent discussion, but spare me the attempts to redefine words. Give me your argument, don’t shout me down.

    A reasonable argument would be something along the line of “Employees frequently enough feel pressure to submit to boss’s advances … Because of the economy they may feel that they cannot quit, or because of widespread lack of self confidence and self esteem among women to say No, they are easily taken advangate of. The difficulty of discriminated among various levels of consent is impractical, so a total ban is justified.” See how that works? You use reasoned discussion to make your case. You don’t scream “EMPLOYEES CANNOT CONSENT!!!!!!”

    Comment by Mike — Saturday October 3, 2009 @ 10:44pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Dear Everyone Who Posts Comments Just to Let Us Know That They Don’t Find Jay Leno Funny,

  Nobody cares.

  Sincerely,
  Everyone Else

  Comment by Chris Bowyer — Saturday October 3, 2009 @ 6:42pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Jay Leno wasn’t the only one making jokes–check out Bill Maher, (who wasn’t “mild” at all) or Jimmy Fallon, or SNL. The only one so far not making jokes is Conan. Plus, if your shtick is to comment on politicians and other celebrities and their various affairs, (no pun intended) then, when the shoe is on the other foot, not to expect some heat–well, hypocritical much??

  Comment by QuickDraw — Sunday October 4, 2009 @ 2:22pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Hahaha. I love the Letterman jokes. Keep it up Jay, Conan and Jimmy.

  Comment by john — Monday October 5, 2009 @ 10:05am PDT  Reply to this post

• Jay Leno is a classless unfunny untalented shrewd clown. He hasn’t said anything funny in over a decade. Nobody with any moral compass has any respect for this fraud of a man.

  Jay Leno ruined The Tonight Show and his new show is the worst show on television, period.

  Comment by Rufus — Thursday October 8, 2009 @ 3:12pm PDT  Reply to this post