David Letterman Apologizes to Palin Family, Everyone 'Outraged' By Joke

Monday, June 15, 2009  

AP

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526525,00.html

David Letterman took his biggest step to put the furor surrounding his jokes about Sarah Palin's daughters behind him during the taping of his show Monday.

In remarks set to air Monday night obtained by FOXNews.com from a 'Late Show' rep, Letterman directly apologized to the Palin family for the coarse jokes he made last Monday.

"I would like to apologize, especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke. I’m sorry about it and I’ll try to do better in the future," Letterman told the studio audience.

He went on to explain how he had come to the realization that last week's monologue, in which he joked about one of Governor Palin's teen-age daughters being "knocked up" by New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez, could be interpreted as being in poor taste.

"I thought I was telling it about the older daughter being at Yankee Stadium. And it was kind of a coarse joke. There’s no getting around it, but I never thought it was anybody other than the older daughter, and before the show, I checked to make sure in fact that she is of legal age, 18. Yeah. But the joke really, in and of itself, can’t be defended."

He said he didn't know that Palin's 14-year-old daughter was attending the game with her.

"Now people are getting angry and they're saying, 'Well, how can you say something like that about a 14-year-old girl, and does that make you feel good to make those horrible jokes about a kid who's completely innocent, minding her own business,' and, turns out, she was at the ball game," Letterman said.

"I had no idea she was there. So she's now at the ball game and people think that I made the joke about her. And, but still, I’m wondering, 'Well, what can I do to help people understand that I would never make a joke like this?' I’ve never made jokes like this as long as we've been on the air, 30 long years, and you can't really be doing jokes like that. And I understand, of course, why people are upset. I would be upset myself."

Letterman's mea culpa comes on the heels of New York State Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb's calls to the CEO of CBS to fire David Letterman. In the letter to CBS chief Les Moonves, Kolb said he took Letterman to task for the "shockingly inappropriate" jokes.

“As the proud father of a daughter, and as a husband, I wanted Mr. Moonves to hear from me directly about Mr. Letterman’s disparaging remarks," Kolb said in a written statement.

“Firing Mr. Letterman would send a clear message that CBS will not tolerate any of its employees — even an established media figure like Mr. Letterman — making demeaning and degrading comments about women.”

The talk show host has also been blasted by women's groups

"There's a saying that out of the heart, the mouth speaks, and Letterman's statement reveals a pretty ugly reflection of who Letterman may be," Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, told FOXNews.com.

"When he said those things, they were thought through. He probably kicked them around with his writers who thought it was appropriate to say these reprehensible things."

Whether Letterman's Monday appeal will put an end to the controversy remains to be seen.

Letterman is in a ratings war with new Tonight Show host Conan O'Brien, and while the controversy has given him short-term exposure, it may have long-term negative effects with his viewers.

"As they say about jokes, if you have to explain the joke, it’s not a very good joke," Letterman said from the 'Late Show' stage Monday. "I told a bad joke. I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception. And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke. It’s not your fault that it was misunderstood, it’s my fault."

nope

I said the same thing.  He's in deep shit and he knows it.  Saving your ass is where he is right now...he made a big mistake and it's biting him in the ass.

HH

Nope, now if he follows up with a resignation letter to his network, i'll consider it.

No.  Especially since he made fun of Bush tonight as well.

FDL & FBO

I don't believe his apology and he's done too much shit in the past. The whole show that night was Bush and Palin jokes. Why the Bush jokes? (Don't answer it's rhetorical I know)

He won't resign and he's not going to be fired.

And I don't think he should be. He made a  stupid joke .

I think we have other things to worry about.

HH

“Firing Mr. Letterman would send a clear message that CBS will not tolerate any of its employees — even an established media figure like Mr. Letterman — making demeaning and degrading comments about women.”


Sweating a little bit there David?

Freaking picture was huge lol.

It's not sincere, he's only doing it to make the situation go away.

No way in hell he would ever get fired for insulting Palin or her family.  He's just annoyed and doesn't want to deal with it.

Not until he quits rationalizing what he did.

Hey, first time he did it, I can ALMOST give him a pass.

SECOND day.......no fucking way, proves he knew who was there the first day.

When I read his apology earlier today, I imagined it in a completely different tone than he actually used. If he delivered it like I imagined it, I'd have accepted it.

After hearing it this evening, where the apology was half a joke itself, I'd respond to his request for forgiveness with, "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."

Letterman is an irrelevant lounge act.

In this twist, Dave gets shut down instead of HAL.

Doesn't need to apologize any more than Imus or Gibson did.  They did apologize, but shouldn't have, since people are too thin skinned.

Did you agree with Imus being fired?

Did you think  Michael Richards of Seinfeld should have gone that that stupid apology tour?

Was it right to fire Jimmy The Greek?

He's just trying to CYA.  He could care less about making sex jokes about a 14 year old girl.  The email at CBS for the show is [email protected]  can you belive that CBS doesn't even have a real email address for the show?  I got this from the CBS Letterman website and sent an email yesterday about sending emails to Letterman's sponsors to tell them that I will not be buying any of their products and why.  That's the only thing that CBS gives a rats ass about.  It's great that the Women's groups are getting involved in this, I hope the Airline Stewardess Union weighs in as well.

He already had a chance to apologize, and instead he used it for a snarky defense.

Now that that hasn't worked, and actually backfired, he's in damage control mode because the whole thing is distracting from the ratings battle with Conan.



And Jay Leno is laughing his ass off as he's preparing for his prime time show.

He is no longer funny.
Hasn't been for years. He's not even Chevy Chase funny, and that guy is a tool.

This country has serious problems and the media (and other folks) concentrates on bullshit like this. (

Perfect post.

HH

"Sorry you dumb hicks couldn't get my nuanced humor.  My bad."

Eat a dick, Dave.

You called Willow a whore on the second fucking night....after the uproar of what you said on the first night.

There is no way in Hell that no one told you it was Willow at the game, not Bristol on Monday.

You thought you could get away with it.

You ain't.

I'm sick and tired of the whole "we are better than that".

The left pushes to get anyone that offends THEM fired, but if we want the same standard applied we get told "oh no, you can't do that"

I find his joke inappropriate, no matter which daughter it was aimed at. I bet he wouldn't have said that about Chelsea Clinton when she was younger.



Even if this joke was about Bristol Palin, it was in bad taste.  Bristol might have made a mistake by getting pregnant (i.e. unwed mother) but at least she's doing the right thing by trying to be a responsible mother.

If he made a sincere apology maybe, but until then I would cost him as much as I could. When one messes with you they have to learn not to do that again.

The media is half the problem with this country. In the midst of the elections SNL was running skits with Todd Palin and kids ('he's from Alaska, you know he's doing them') while deep-throating all things Obama.

These people deserve no quarter.

Of course not...he's a total lib scumbag and got caught in his own shit.  He. Literally. Fucked. Up...and should pay for it, like it would be demanded from the libs if the tables were turned.

HH

I'm not  even saying that . I  think the whole thing is ridiculous on both sides.

Why is it so hard for people to understand the MSM is one of the major reasons we are where we're at?

HH

If I was a family member or friend, no I wouldn't accept his "apology" in the slightest. He jumped the shark and he knows it.

But if we just play nice with them, don't say controversial things, don't fight back against the smears...they'll love us...right?

Right?

ETA: See sig.

They're afraid of Sarah...why else would they keep her in the limelight?  They know she's a threat and will not stop bashing her...God forbid the dumbshit, shit-for-brains no-minds begin liking her on a national scale.  It's one thing to be a conservative and not appreciate her, but the POS libs that continue to bash her are scared of what she could do.

HH

Dave is nervous. he's always been nervous, if your read his autibiography, but he's especially nervous right now.

Embassy Suites, part of Hilton Inc, pulled all it's CBS advertising on the heels of Letterman's joke, and when advertiss pull ads, network execs get real nervous, then they make talent REAL nervous.

Letterman crossed the line and cost CBS real money. He's in trouble and he knows he's in trouble.

I love watching liberals pay for their stupidity. It doesn't happen often, but its rich when it does.

What do the people on the left think? Well I just took a stroll over to the HuffPost and there are over 2,000 comments. As you would expect most are like this.




I hope Palin continues to be the butt of a lot of jokes to come.

Of course she will! She can't help it, every time she opens her mouth.


photo

I just can't get enough. I just roll over in laughter.

Paline is an oxygen pirate, a total waste of human spew..

Next time have Alex Rodriguez come and read the top 10 Palin jokes

Would be hilarious if Dave gave A-Rod a 5-minute heartfelt apology on tomorrow's show.

WHEN are people going to learn to stop being bullied by the right???? QUIT APOLOGIZING!

David Letterman has always been a class act. The fact that the Palin's and their zealots have continued to push it this far only continues to show us all what they are really made of......nothing.


So, to sum up, nothing less than firing will make the rabid left realize that there isn't a double standard.

In order to accept an apology, it must be sincere.  Dave's apology wasn't sincere.

If someone has a list of his advertisers, it would be worth re-posting.

He can spew whatever lame crap he wants, and we are free not to support those who fund him.

http://doubleplusundead.mee.nu/a_tribute_to_not_backing_down

A Tribute To Not Backing Down

As we all know by now, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will not exit the political stage just yet, and that has her detractors up in arms and flinging yet more shit her way. But why?

I dunno for certain, but I have one idea, and the recent Letterman dustup and the back and forth afterward convinced me of one idea why. It's because she won't back down when attacked.

Letterman, Olbermann, Matthews, Couric, Lauer, Powerline, Noonan, Parker, Brooks, Frum, and the Beltway GOP once again unleashed their nastiness and savagery upon her, and what did she do? She fired back, and she fired back without mercy upon her enemies. She reduced Matt Lauer to a stumbling mass of jumbling live on National TV. She has caused the pundit class and MSNBC to twist themselves into a pretzel over her response. And David Letterman and his enablers have made themselves look foolish in the process of trying to spin this away.

All because she won't back down. All because she refuses to abandon the battlefield and "Play Nice". They have no idea how to deal with that. She is once again in their OODA Loop. And it is fucking awesome.

Too bad too many shitbags ostensibly on our side are not rallying to her defense. That's too bad, because she will take them all on by herself, and they will have missed the lesson about what happens when you finally counterpunch.

All in all, fuck anybody sideways who doesn't defend Gov. Palin now. She has rejoined the battle, and is standing there, damn near by herself, and she has them running from her, reduced to name-calling and refusals to debate her. And anybody who is unwilling to stand with her should be ashamed.

Glad to see you back.  I didn't know about these developments.  Damn, jeff...it's OK to weigh in more frequently.

Missed ya man!



HH

This website has all the pertinent info:

http://firedavidletterman.com/

I hope this sends a message to the Hollywood Libs . They may hate conservatives but ultimately  we sign their pay checks !

Funny how that works....



HH

Character assassination sucks, especially when its self inflicted.  Dave shouldn't try so hard to be funny.

He's a fucking liar.

Every newspaper in New York reported Palin was visiting and WHO was with her.

He's a shitbird.  If we forgive him for this it will be something else in another week or two.  Once a shitbird, always a shitbird.  And besides, he's not sorry he said it, he's sorry it's come back to bite his ass.

+1

There are folks who are lockstep with liberalism.

He is one of them.


Another reason I do not miss my TV.



Carson had class, this guy has none

He.  Messed.  Up...major league.  He knew exactly what was going on, and jeffers told us the net result.  His half-assed apology the other night just pissed people off more, and now they're losing $$$ he's in serious trouble.  He's in a CYA mode right now, and I hope he fails.

HH