David Letterman Victim Of Extortion

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Apparently an Emmy award winning producer was trying to extort $2,000,000 from him after learning about "several" extra marital affairs.

LOL, after all the jokes about Clinton, Edwards, Spitzer , the dude who was "hiking the Appalachian Trail" and anyone else caught in bad public light, it seems that good ole Dave is no different than any of them.

Will this hurt his career?

Should he be able to joke about others discrepancies any longer?

What say you?

Scot
  • Profile picture of the author Kurt
    Knowing Dave, he'll start joking about himself.
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  • Profile picture of the author CanEh!
    This won't hurt his career at all, but maybe his personal life.
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  • Profile picture of the author Trader54
    Hard to look at it as him being the victim. I usually feel for the victim.
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    • Profile picture of the author KimW
      Originally Posted by Trader54 View Post

      Hard to look at it as him being the victim. ...
      And why do you say that?
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  • Profile picture of the author derekwong28
    Who cares, people in the entertainment industry are expected to sleep around, have multiple affairs, engage in all sorts of fetish, perverted sex, sodomies and orgies that sometimes involve children, and are expected to get away with it.
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  • Profile picture of the author john_kennedy
    David who? I just can't understand the desire to keep up with these celebrities' personal lives. Who gives a rats ass? The vast majority of these people I would not let them pet my dog. Yet, people worship the ground they walk on and even take what they have to say seriously.
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    David's been getting a lot of flack lately because of some of his really crude jokes that degrade women -- such as making a joke about a 14 year old girl that was raped. It took a lot of low to joke about something like that. I'm thinking with all the women already hot on him over his attitudes, this might just put a pretty big hole in the old career.

    Don't really care myself - just saying.
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    • Profile picture of the author TimPhelan
      He didn't joke about a 14 year old who was raped Sal.

      Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

      David's been getting a lot of flack lately because of some of his really crude jokes that degrade women -- such as making a joke about a 14 year old girl that was raped. It took a lot of low to joke about something like that. I'm thinking with all the women already hot on him over his attitudes, this might just put a pretty big hole in the old career.

      Don't really care myself - just saying.
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      • Profile picture of the author HeySal
        Originally Posted by TimPhelan View Post

        He didn't joke about a 14 year old who was raped Sal.
        Tim - I don't watch TV, but there was a big uproar lately about him making some smart ass crack about it.......Oh - I worded the post wrong - he joked about RAPING 14 year old - Palin's daughter. It really sent the women's liber's in to convulsions.
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        • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
          Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

          Tim - I don't watch TV, but there was a big uproar lately about him making some smart ass crack about it.......Oh - I worded the post wrong - he joked about RAPING 14 year old - Palin's daughter. It really sent the women's liber's in to convulsions.
          It should send anyone with decency into convulsions.

          As mentioned, he thought it was the OTHER Palin daughter, not the minor. BUT, that doesn't make the joke less offensive.

          His apology came across as sincere in this case, I know, I saw it.

          All the best,
          Michael
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      • Profile picture of the author Killer Joe
        Originally Posted by TimPhelan View Post

        He didn't joke about a 14 year old who was raped Sal.
        That's right he didn't. I saw that episode. Although my recollection of what transpired is a bit hazy, what followed was nothing more than grandstanding by someone who didn't see the humor in it.

        That kind of reaction is all too common these days.

        KJ
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        • Profile picture of the author TimPhelan
          Yeh, I was more offended by the Palin's BS response to this off color joke. They knew full well that the joke wasn't about their younger daughter, but decided to use their younger daughter as a way to get back at Letterman who has targeted Palin many times. Political grandstanding at it's worst. I mean, the Palin's were the ones who brought up the idea of raping their 14 year old daughter.

          Originally Posted by Killer Joe View Post

          That's right he didn't. I saw that episode. Although my recollection of what transpired is a bit hazy, what followed was nothing more than grandstanding by someone who didn't see the humor in it.

          That kind of reaction is all too common these days.

          KJ
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      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by TimPhelan View Post

        He didn't joke about a 14 year old who was raped Sal.

        I forget EXACTLY what he said, but he DID make light of it, and it WAS on the news!

        Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
    I watch Letterman all the time, and happened to see the whole thing.

    At first he only said that someone was trying to blackmail him for things he had done in his past. Then he went on to say he has slept with women that worked for him. It sounded sincere - he wasn't making jokes while discussing it.

    Shortly thereafter he did start making jokes about himself.

    Of course he can tell jokes about public figures that have affairs. Here's why: Dave smokes cigars, has had a heart attack, gotten speeding tickets, has been stalked, and he has told jokes about all of those things.

    As far as the Palin incident, I saw that apology, too. HOWEVER, I didn't watch on the night he told the joke. Joking about rape is NEVER funny, ever. The only difference, was that he thought it was the older daughter, over 18, not the minor. That doesn't make it better, and he knew it. He regretted saying something so awful, that it was disgusting and in poor taste, and he wish he had never said it. Here's the thing, he still jokes about how stupid HE was for doing it.

    He's in the business of entertaining people; making fun of public figures. He gives the audience what they want, and what he has (or hasn't) done doesn't matter. Besides, his writers are the ones who are creating most of the material.

    Those are my thoughts.

    All the best,
    Michael
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  • Profile picture of the author KimW
    I'm like Sal, I don't watch much tv except usually one of the History channels, but if I am in a late night watching mood, it would be letterman over any of the others any day.
    There isn't any comedian that hasn't made a joke in bad taste or regretted it at one time or another,it comes with the territory, exploring the boundaries.
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    I can't comment on if it was tasteless or taken wrongly - I didn't hear it -- just saw the backlash. If he did joke about raping ANYONE it was in bad taste at the least. Some things just aren't funny. But I also know how absolutely over the edge some women's groups have gone, too.

    Now as far as a guy sleeping around. Letterman is gettin' old and he's rich. Who's to say that he's not doing anything that his wife isn't? She might get a little bored with the old koot herself........but whose going to get anything by exposing her if she decides the pool or lawn guy just look a little to scrumptious not to take a bite out of?

    Whether someone sleeps with someone else outside of the marriage is nobody else's business but the people involved in the situation. We have no way of knowing all of the details and there is no way just because he is seen by the public that he should be forced to TELL his private details to anyone.

    So what if his wife is cold as hell and only married him hoping he'd step out of line enough to collect half of everything - or that he'll drop dead and leave it to her? Someone just fed the virus - should the rest of us follow suit.

    I remember when what a person does that doesn't involve us was none of our business. It's turnning my stomach that humans have become so nosy, self-rigteous, and so trite.

    We have legislators that steal, torture, kill, violate our rights -- and it's all just honky dorey until someone's head turns over someone they aren't married to. Anyone who wants to whisper, yell, gossip, or otherwise react to whatever Letterman did or did not do with a woman not his wife -- needs to get a life and start addressing issues that actually take some brain power to tackle. This whole issue is just pitiful.
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    Sal
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
    I see your point, Sal. But I think this is a little different than what you're talking about.

    It is Letterman's business, but the premise of the OP is whether or not he should've been telling jokes about the very thing he was doing. That's all.

    Plus, we weren't prying into anything.

    Mr. Letterman is the one who mentioned it on the air. We weren't poking our noses where the don't belong, we were listening to a confession - a confession that we didn't even KNOW was coming.

    All the best,
    Michael
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Didn't realize that it came straight from him, Michael. Sounded like just another news leak. It happens so darned often. People are so busy walking all over each other's business these days that I'm becoming a bit trigger happy over issues like this.

    As far as telling jokes about what he was doing himself.......he's a freakin' comedian...uh...that's what they do. They get paid to do it. If people thought his jokes were funny, well, then he was doing his job. I'm sorry to hear that he had to come out and tell the world his own private life because of some money mongering criminal. Sounds like he already had his "private moments" at home over it if he was on the tube telling everyone else.
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    Sal
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  • Profile picture of the author madison_avenue
    David Letterman? Did he take over from Johnny Carson? ON CNN international they show
    The Daily Show with a guy called James Stewart which I watch here.
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    • Profile picture of the author KimW
      Originally Posted by madison_avenue View Post

      David Letterman? Did he take over from Johnny Carson? ON CNN international they show
      The Daily Show with a guy called James Stewart which I watch here.
      No, He ws suppose to take over after Carson but Leno ended up getting that job.
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Speaking of Carson - does anyone remember the stink Arnold Palmer's wife made over a Crack Johnny made to one of her remarks? She led him right into the comeback.

    He asked her if she did anything for Arny for luck before a tournament. She said, yes, she kissed his balls. So Johnny comes back with "Bet that makes his putter fluttler".

    He almost got sued for that one, LMAO.
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    Sal
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      Letterman can joke about anything he wants - just as other comedians can.

      Affairs he has had are not the public's business - but he could be in hot water with the network because apparently this behavior is prohibited by the network's contracts. No woman has complained about him. Probably be a good idea for politicians and comedians to lay off the morality jokes - as few of them seem to live up to their standards.

      If you want to be outraged...save it for the media who are putting on a non-story. Some psych guy no one has ever heard of - who has never met Letterman - was holding forth today on cable news about what "might have happened".

      The blind leading the stupid.....
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Ellis
    I feel sorry for his wife/girlfriend who has been with him for the last 25 years. Maybe now she'll know what a creep this guy really is. Did he even make an apology to his wife last Thursday?
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    • Profile picture of the author LegitIncomes
      Originally Posted by Michael Ellis View Post

      I feel sorry for his wife/girlfriend who has been with him for the last 25 years. Maybe now she'll know what a creep this guy really is. Did he even make an apology to his wife last Thursday?
      I agree.

      I don't think it will hurt his career though. He came right out and admitted in on national TV. Which was probably the right thing to do.

      I was actually a bit surprised that Letterman just didn't pay up to keep it all quite. Yes, they were asking for $2million, but Letterman makes over $30 million a year, so to him it's not a great deal of money...at least as far as his overall income goes, at less than 1 months earnings.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dave Patterson
    Well now we know...Letterman's just your average human.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
    Yeah, it was more of a joke about Spitzer and A-Rod than anything else.

    And, as I mentioned several times - he thought it was the older daughter, the one who WAS pregnant, that was at Yankee Stadium.

    He never mentions the word 'rape'. He says 'knocked up'. I don't know if that implies consent, or not. Knowing Dave, I don't think he meant 'rape' in even the slightest. He believed he was referring to two consenting adults.

    He doesn't mention the name "Willow" as the YouTube titles suggest.

    And he did apologize after word got back to him which daughter was with Palin.

    Regardless, the "joke" wasn't funny, no matter who the butt of it was.

    All the best,
    Michael
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    • Profile picture of the author Killer Joe
      Originally Posted by Michael Oksa View Post

      And, as I mentioned several times - he thought it was the older daughter, the one who WAS pregnant, that was at Yankee Stadium.
      That's right.

      But we all hear what we want to hear...

      KJ
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
    Very true, KJ.

    However, I was happy to hear the "joke" directly. To me it sounds like there WAS over-reacting to some degree.

    I've heard so-called comedians make jokes that were TRULY disgusting, repulsive and indefensible.

    ~M~
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    • Profile picture of the author Killer Joe
      Originally Posted by Michael Oksa View Post

      Very true, KJ.

      However, I was happy to hear the "joke" directly. To me it sounds like there WAS over-reacting to some degree.

      I've heard so-called comedians make jokes that were TRULY disgusting, repulsive and indefensible.

      ~M~
      Michael,

      That's why I posted it. If we are going to comment on it we should at least take the time to hear it first.

      On a scale of 1 -10 it's nothing like the jokes I've been subjected to hearing after moving back to VA after 29 years in LA.

      Some of these rednecks are still living in the dark ages out here in the country.

      KJ
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      • Profile picture of the author HeySal
        Originally Posted by Killer Joe View Post

        Michael,

        That's why I posted it. If we are going to comment on it we should at least take the time to hear it first.

        On a scale of 1 -10 it's nothing like the jokes I've been subjected to hearing after moving back to VA after 29 years in LA.

        Some of these rednecks are still living in the dark ages out here in the country.

        KJ
        Wow - that's the big "rape" comment? I have to say I'm really surprised people even took notice of it. I would have taken it more as a slam on the Palin family lifestyle or on the player who's name was involved than as a comment about raping a little girl. WTF?
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