Letterman apologizes

Posted here and at The Borg Conspiracy by guest blogger Locutisprime.

 

Letterman re-addresses Palin: 'I had no idea [Willow] was there'

I am going to paste his entire commentary and apology, as I believe that it is relevant to what has happened in review of context.

“All right, here – I’ve been thinking about this situation with Governor Palin and her family now for about a week – it was a week ago tonight, and maybe you know about it, maybe you don’t know about it. But there was a joke that I told, and 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. The next day, people are outraged.

They’re angry at me because they said, ‘How could you make a lousy joke like that about the 14-year-old girl who was at the ball game?’ And I had, honestly, no idea that the 14-year-old girl, I had no idea that anybody was at the ball game except the governor and I was told at the time she was there with Rudy Giuliani … and I really should have made the joke about Rudy …” (audience applauds) “But I didn’t, and 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.

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. “And then I was watching the Jim Lehrer ‘Newshour’ – this commentator, the columnist Mark Shields, was talking about how I had made this indefensible joke about the 14-year-old girl, and I thought, ‘Oh, boy, now I’m beginning to understand what the problem is here. It’s the perception rather than the intent.’ It doesn’t make any difference what my intent was, it’s the perception. And, as they say about jokes, if you have to explain the joke, it’s not a very good joke. And I’m certainly – ” (audience applause) “– thank you. Well, my responsibility – I take full blame for that. 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. That it was misunderstood.” (audience applauds) “Thank you. So 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. Thank you very much.” (audience applause)

The bottom line....I believe that David Letterman would have never apologized if he and CBS hadn't felt the heat on this for the past week. They have lost audience share and advertisers over this blunder. And the sad reality is? He is probably being honest in his most recent remarks as opposed to that BS apology he was floating the day after his remarks.

I suppose that on the night in question, that he just felt that he was being his usual comic smart ass and had no idea that Sarah Palin's 14 year old daughter Willow was at that ball game with her.

Personally, I believe that this apology would have had far more benefit and effect had it been tendered immediately. But it wasn't. Instead, Letterman felt that he would pursue a contrived path and continue to make jokes about the incident and play stupid. Obviously that didn't work.

What a difference a week makes. Never fear though, this won't have any lasting impression on Letterman's success. He will continue to have his regular audience of loyal leftist loons who will continue to swoon over his top ten lists and stupid pet tricks. But you can bet that from here on out, that he will vet anything that he plans to say about Sarah Palin and her family.

Comments

[ChrisVehr]

So, his intent was to smear the older girl, Bristol, rather than the younger Willow. And that makes it OK?

Haven't heard Arod weigh in on this yet.

The joke was sick and was created by a sick, arrogant mind.

[S. Tompkins]

Too late for David Letterman and CBS. There wouldn't have been an apology if not for the turmoil and does anyone believe that they meant it? Hey Dave! Don't forget about the White House daughters next time they're in town!
Only kidding. We know that you and CBS don't have the politics or the guts to go there.

[Locutisprime]

Actually? I believe it was his intent to smear Sarah Palin. As it has been the intent with with him and others ever since she was nominated as McCain's VP last year.

And going after her family has been fair game since day one with these jerks.

The problem ishis contrived explanation of "Oh! I was talking about Bristol and now Willow" simply didn't wash in the context of his BS humor.

[jelly]

Let's hope this is the end of the David Letterman - Sarah Palin feud. While last week Letterman apologized, it was in a snarky sort of way, and wasn't accepted by Palin...
Exclusive Video here:david letterman sarah palin joke

[Leslie]

True, he probably wouldn't have apologized if he and CBS hadn't felt a weeks worth of heat about it, but on the upside, a sizable segment of the population kept their sites focused on this point for a whole week to generate the heat.

In this day and age that says something. People are getting tired of all the garbage. And that is good.

[tim aka The Godless Heathen]

“I had no idea that anybody was at the ball game except the governor”

“It’s the perception rather than the intent.”

“It’s not your fault that it was misunderstood, it’s my fault”

Point one; it’s still BS, in his “joke” he referred to Palin’s daughter at the ball game with Sarah therefore he knew and is now lying.

Point two: No Dave it’s not the freakin’ perception, it was the attack, to you a joke, on Sarah Palin and her family that was wrong.

Your intent was to inflict damage to Palin and her family.

Point three; It was not understood, the people upset understood what you were doing, we witnessed it during the campaign and we’re sick of it. There’s no misunderstanding that you’re a schmuck and an a$$hole and you can’t even apologize like a man.

Now shut up and go away loser.

[Frank]

I'll hear it for this but oh well...

Celebrities and politicians cannot complain when stepping into the lime light, it comes with the territory on matter how absurd. Sticks and stones now suck it up, it's just a joke no matter what.

[FRANK]

Let's define slut: sexually promiscuous and/or inappropriate such as teen pregnancy, multiple partners, no condoms, hookers...

I heard even more about this recently so I looked up the joke on YouTube. Now I see the deep absurdity of anyone defending Palin. It is an adult, late night talk show. Comedians are usually inappropriate, that's part of the humor. How do you not get it? He is a comedian. It was a joke.

The part that is not funny is that her daughter, back in my day, would have been considered a SLUT. Hey Palin, if your daughter never got knocked up there would be no punch line. We all knew exactly what he was poking fun at: Palin didn't teach her kid right from wrong -or- her kid knew but decided to be slutty anyways.

Defend her all you want, what she did was wrong and far more inappropriate than a lame joke.

Someone doesn't like to wear sleeves and I'm not talking about Michelle Obama - boom boom ching!