October 2, 2009

Oops, Letterman really is the lecher he seems to goofily pretend to be.

Letterman has to admit it, because he needed to testify about an attempt to blackmail him over his secret sexual affairs with women who have worked with him. D'oh! And now it is revealed. How does that undermine his sweet, inept, self-mocking lecher he's been on the show all these years.

Here's video of the confession he did on the show last night. "I had to tell them how I was disturbed by this I was worried for myself, I was worried for my family, I felt menaced by this, and I had to tell them all of the creepy things that I have done that were going to be exposed. [Laughter.] Now why is that funny?"

He did a good job of damage control, I think. He made it sound as if it was just sex — which implies that you're a prude if you don't give him a pass. But sex with the women who work on his staff? This is the atmosphere of sexual harassment. What are the details that made the blackmailer think he could extort $2 million? Did some women get jobs and promotions because they were sexually available while men and other women lost out? 

***

Meanwhile, here he is with Madonna, in a cute bit where they go out for a slice of pizza in the Italian restaurant next door to the theater. Madonna, it turns out, has never had New York pizza-by-the-slice and she's quite fussy about cheese... and not fussy at all about touching hands all down the aisle of the theater and in the crowd outside and then eating with her hands. What a dame!



Earlier in the show, Madonna talked about her famous 1994 appearance and attributes her strange behavior to marijuana smoking. I'm not sure if that counts as promoting marijuana or warning against it, but it bothered me to hear the icon admit to doing it (even 15 years ago).

50 comments:

rhhardin said...

Sex with Letterman would be a plus, in the woman's making a good deal for herself sweepstakes, if he didn't offer tats for sex.

Sexual harassment law is sort of an intrusion on that, rather than a first moral principle. It's more of a reason it's a bad law.

rhhardin said...

not fussy at all about touching hands all down the aisle of the theater and in the crowd outside and then eating with her hands.

Additional germs fear her.

Ann Althouse said...

rh, you have to consider the women who say no and don't get the job advancement.

rhhardin said...

That would be a tat.

rhhardin said...

It's not unlikely he just wanted to have sex with her wanting to have sex with him. Otherwise just hire a hooker.

For the sweepstakes reason, it's not unlikely the woman sees it as a good deal for herself.

Alpha alpha male and all that.

Anonymous said...

Another sexual tsunami. Now, the hunt for "victims." Lead detectives; Harper Collins and William Morris.

Unknown said...

I'm sure the press and public will afford Letterman and his family the same privacy, sympathy and dignity that he showed Sarah Palin and her teenage daughters.

Screw with The Sarah and the wheel of karma turns.

Bissage said...

(1) That Letterman video is not proof that Madonna has now had “New York pizza-by-the-slice.”

Sitting down in a fancy restaurant, being waited on, is not eating New York pizza by the slice.

See what I mean?

(2) This said, that Letterman video is, in fact, proof that Madonna is much cuter than I thought. But I don’t care for those oversized sunglasses she wears. Too impersonal. She should lose the sunglasses, except [REMAINDER OF COMMENT DELETED PER MRS. BISSAGE.]

AllenS said...

The woman should have taken Dave to court, and sued him for whatever damages she thinks she might have sustained. Dave would have settled out of court for about $2 million.

Tank said...

Allen wins.

Why go underground. The law is set up so you can extort the $$$$ legally, with a good lawyer, and few tidbits of info.

MadisonMan said...

Perhaps she didn't go the legal route because she didn't have a case.

MadisonMan said...

PLUS, if she went the legal route, she'd have to give a lawyer part of the winnings. Going solo means it's all hers.

(oops)

AllenS said...

A million in the hand is better than two in the bush.

If Dave fucked her, she has a case. Period.

MadisonMan said...

It was odd to hear the laughter and applause during the story he told. (Did the Applause sign come on?)

America loves someone who will talk seemingly straightforwardly about their shortcomings with seeming contrition. I'm thinking major damage control proceedings are ongoing behind the scenes.

Hoosier Daddy said...

It was odd to hear the laughter and applause during the story he told.

Why odd? Letterman is a celebrity and they can pretty much do anything and they'll be adored. Clinton treated women like doormats and feminists loved him. I think its a hoot that he gets cheers and applause for admitting he banged a bunch of women but if you or I stood up and there read off our lists of conquered poontang we'd be hissed off stage.

Cause when you’re a celebrity
It’s adios reality
You can act just like a fool
And people think you’re cool
Just cause your on T.V.
I can throw a major fit
When my latte isn't just how I like it
They say I've gone insane
I'll blame it on the fame
And the pressures that go with....
Being a Celebrity

Larry J said...

Letterman had sex with several of his staffers, but you can count on NOW giving him a pass. Any other boss would be accused of sexual harassment but he won't. And to think he called Sarah Palin's daughter a whore. Who's the whore now.

save_the_rustbelt said...

Did anyone understand the time frame of his escapades? Recent, long term, ???

I knew about the scandal before I watched the show, I suspect the audience was a little confused about what was true and what was put on. Perhaps that explains the laughter.

Weird.

Hoosier Daddy said...

You know I never understood his appeal anyway. He always came off as a pompous, arrogant prick and I thought that before I ever realized he was a pompous, arrogant, liberal prick.

Carson is still my favorite and even Leno was fun to watch.

MadisonMan said...

but if you or I stood up and there read off our lists of conquered poontang we'd be hissed off stage.

Maybe. My list is pretty short. I'd be off the stage before the hissing began.

Clyde said...

I saw the story and all I could think was "Thank God we had this paragon of virtue to defend us from immoral people like Sarah Palin's slutty daughter!"

But as Whoopi Goldberg would probably say, "It's not sexual harassment-sexual harassment!" Right? Notice that it was sex with female staffers, plural; women whose careers Letterman had considerable power to help or harm. So this wasn't a single incident of a boss boinking a subordinate, but an ongoing pattern of behavior. In your office or mine, the guy would be fired for cause.

I already thought Letterman was a schmuck. This just confirms it even more. But as Glenn Reynolds noted at Instapundit, the timing is excellent for Letterman; compared to Roman Polanski, he doesn't look like so much of a heel.

Paul said...

MM-

"Maybe. My list is pretty short. I'd be off the stage before the hissing began."

Men who spend their days cleaning house, doing laundry, and shopping for shoes ain't usually the ones that get the girls.

Just sayin'....

MadisonMan said...

Carson is still my favorite and even Leno was fun to watch.

Yes to Carson. It took me a while to understand my Leno rubs me the wrong way. He's trying too hard to be liked. I don't want to like my entertainers, I want to be entertained. Leno's interacting with the audience, high-fiving them? Ugh.

Anonymous said...

America loves someone who will talk seemingly straightforwardly about their shortcomings with seeming contrition.

Oh the contrition!

Yeah, he feels contrition. He's sorry that he got caught.

Otherwise he wouldn't have said squat about the matter.

William said...

The smart money bets that there is more to this story than Letterman simply having sex with a few staffers. I don't know what the rest of the story is, but the rest of the story is a great deal more squalid than Letterman lets on.

Chennaul said...

My favorite part of the story is that it was a producer from 48 Hours who tried to extort money from him.

They should all be dropped off on an island somewhere so they can scumbag each other to death.

knox said...

there is more to this story

That was my thought.

Chennaul said...

Oh and hell-that is the best Madonna has ever looked-really amazing.

And, her colorist-I hate bleach jobs-whoever did that -you don't think fake when you look at it.

knox said...

Men who spend their days cleaning house, doing laundry, and shopping for shoes ain't usually the ones that get the girls.

I don't even get this. Is it supposed to be a slam on MM? Stupid comment.

MadisonMan said...

I was also scratching my head. I own two pairs of shoes, excluding the good pair I wear to weddings and funerals.

I will plead guilty to doing laundry, cleaning the house, and cooking/baking.

Joan said...

Letterman: ugh.

Madonna looks great because she has her sinewy limbs all covered up in that demure/sexy dress.

William said...

If this involves a menage a trois with Kanye West, his career is over.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Madawasjkan said:

"They should all be dropped off on an island somewhere so they can scumbag each other to death."

Made me LOL for some reason.

Matt said...

It is possible there was sexual harassment involved here but the woman in the case is not claiming that. She seems to be staying out of it.

Instead this is more about the idiot who tried to extort money from Letterman over this.

Anonymous said...

It was odd to hear the laughter and applause during the story he told. (Did the Applause sign come on?)

I kept thinking: He's being serious, you laughing hyenas! (OK, I knew ahead of time what Letterman was going to say, and the studio audience didn't, but still ...)

Craig Ferguson may have been left wondering what the value of American mirth is when he tried to get serious on his own show, and when he mentioned the late Anna Nicole Smith, someone in the studio audience burst into laughter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bbaRyDLMvA

Christy said...

And in the homes of staff past and present husbands are questioning their wives. Will the wives be believed, whatever their answer? Will any families be destroyed?

More to come, for sure.

Unknown said...

"I'm not sure if that counts as promoting marijuana or warning against it, but it bothered me to hear the icon admit to doing it (even 15 years ago)."

Why?

rcocean said...

You don't get the key TV staff jobs without putting out. I know Babs Walters' casting couch has never cooled down.

Cedarford said...

AllenS said...
The woman should have taken Dave to court, and sued him for whatever damages she thinks she might have sustained. Dave would have settled out of court for about $2 million.


According to the papers, it wasn't a woman turning the screws on Letterman over some whoring for a promotion that never happened.

It was a millionaire executive at CBS, Emmy-nominated Producer "Joe" Halderman,51, that saw what he thought was a goldmine in blackmailing Letterman. Poor guy's own lavish lifestyle was hit by stock losses and a 6,000 a month alimony payment to his ex.

CarmelaMotto said...

It proves David is a creep. Whether its consensual or not, big companies have sex harrassment laws to protect themselves from this stuff. As for David, you are in your 60s, you have a child now, grow up.

When Madonna was a poor struggling dancer in NYC in the late 70s she never had NYs cheapest eat - PIZZA? She didn't go all healthy until the late 80s so I don't believe that. Anyone who starts out in NY on a tight budget lives on pizza (3 food groups!) and cup o noodles.

Kirby Olson said...

Maybe Letterman's real hatred of Sarah Palin is that he knows she's way out of his league, looks-wise, and that she has her own job, and job skills, so he can never extort sex from her in exchange for being a gaffer.

blake said...

Yes, yes, all very -- uh, whatever it is.

Now I want pizza. This blog owes me pizza, dammit.

Revenant said...

This is the atmosphere of sexual harassment. What are the details that made the blackmailer think he could extort $2 million?

He's been in a relationship with the same woman for over twenty years. I would assume the reason is the usual one: he didn't want his wife to know.

Synova said...

Just from looking at the still...

Does Madonna have "conservative hair" or what?

Hector Owen said...

Did somebody say pizza?

J. Cricket said...

What the hell? You were all bothered because Madonna said that she smoked marijuana?1

In the infamous words of Barney Frank: what planet do you live on?

Or is it the simple explanation: you were drunk when you wrote that.

blake said...

Well, Hector, that blake can kiss this blake's unpizzaed butt.

I'm shocked, SHOCKED, well, okay, not that shocked, that so many don't grasp a simple objection to a pop icon endorsing drug use.

el polacko said...

whoah whoah.. back up a little..'admitting' to smoking a joint is shocking to somebody ???.. really ?
isn't that what one normally does before eating pizza ? (and don't tell me that madge has never, in her poor, teen, struggling years in nyc that she never had a slice!not believable.)

chuck b. said...

Letterman's from Indiana, isn't he?

john marzan said...

in the last few years, whenever i saw stephanie delivering gift checks or awards to studio audience guests, i noticed that she's not smiling anymore and she doesnt look happy, unlike during the early 2000,

careen said...

Hey Madonna actually looks nice there. That's getting rare.