If you didn’t see last night’s episode of The Late Show With David Letterman or haven’t turned on your local news this morning, you may have missed a story that seems so twisted that it seems like it should be part of a Letterman monologue.
Last night on his show, Letterman admitted that he had sexual relationships with female employees on the show. Letterman was married back in March to his longtime girlfriend. They have been together since 1986 and she is the mother of his son, who was born in 2003. It was not said when the affairs took place. However, someone tried to extort $2 million from Letterman over the affairs. They threatened to go public with the information if he did not give them the money. Letterman came forward with the facts and that person was arrested.
I could sit here and slam Letterman for his affairs. I could sit here and slam Letterman for having a child with his girlfriend prior to getting married. I’m not going to do that.
The thing that confuses me is the hypocrisy in media. Letterman has made his living making jokes off of high profile people who have done stupid things. Lately, he’s attacked Senator Joe Wilson for speaking out in Congress, and has bashed every political figure (especially Republicans) who have had extramarital affairs. He also found plenty of material when Senator John Edwards admitted to having an affair and fathering the child with a woman that was not his wife.
It’s interesting that Letterman has been able to make these jokes while participating in the same actions. It’s almost as if he’s held to a lower standard or gets a free pass because he’s an entertainer. Even last night, Letterman was making jokes about the matter.
It seems like the media has fun at pointing the finger at whoever they want to, yet they never even think about pointing that finger back at themselves. They have no problem with pointing out the hypocrisy in others, yet meanwhile they’re prime examples of hypocrites themselves.
Just my thoughts…
Tags: affair, David Letterman, extortion, hypocrisy
October 2nd, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Excellent. I, in particular, do not like his shots at Sarah Palin and was angered by what took place over the Summer with them two. But that has more to do with how I feel about her as a Christian. This incident shows the scope of his hypocrisy is much broader.
I noted that he did use the incident to garner laughs but not in the same way he gets them about other people.
October 2nd, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Agreed. Well stated. Short to the point..Good job.
October 2nd, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Gowdy, great point. Meant to mention Palin but it slipped my mind when I started writing. It will be interesting to see where it goes from here.
October 6th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Well, he seemed last night to be well aware of his hypocrisy as he used it for laughs by starting like he was going to make fun of Clinton, Sanford and Spitzer and then stopped (as if to say, “No, can’t make fun of them anymore”).
But the fact he has had to twice now pause for a serious moment in his show in front of a live studio audience shows that it is not funny.