A con artist who claimed to have proof that David Letterman bedded several female staff members tried to extort $2 million from the the funnyman, he told his audience Thursday night.
The stunning admission came hours after Letterman testified before a grand jury and admitted to "sexual relationships with members of his staff."
"This morning, I did something I've never done in my life," said Letterman. "I had to go downtown and testify before a grand jury."
During his testimony, Letterman admitted he had sexual relationships with staff members.
According to Letterman's official statement via press release:
"My response to that is, yes I have. Would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Perhaps it would," said Letterman. "I feel like I need to protect these people - I need to certainly protect my family."
It worked for The Hills
Yes.
THis is such a sad, sad, story. Just when Letterman was getting his groove back (beating his NBC competition and all) – this had to happen. Very unfortunate.
Whether or not it’ll help his ratings – maybe for a day or two, but in the long term I highly doubt it.
I’m amused, perplexed, and slightly creeped out.
How did this work out for Bob Barker? Surely you have the ratings archives.
Wait ’till Sarah Palin and the right wing fringe gets a load of THAT info! This will be fun!
I was unaware of this story. In the short term it most likely will help him. In the long term, I think that it may hurt, perhaps not much, but I would guess that at least a few viewers would be turned off following these revelations.
Chad, we don’t see ratings for even the Drew Carey daytime version of TPIR! We don’t have any archives from the Bob Barker days either.
I wasn’t serious… But doesn’t Letterman creep us out enough as is? Isn’t that why some watch him, where as others watched Leno because of the appropriate label of him being a teddy bear? Nothing changes long term, even for a man with a very private home life.
Presently? I think I’m still sticking with whacky wavy inflatable Conan and his concussions.
I doubt it would really help him, nor would it hurt very much at all either. What’s someone going to say, “I was going to watch Conan tonight, but gosh darnit, I’m in the mood for an adulterer!”
Extortion plot or not, this may be problematic for future jokes about politicians and celebrities messing with the staff. Something about glass houses and stones comes to mind.
He can tell them if he wants, that’s his choice, of course, and at 62, he’s not all that far from deciding whether he wants to call it a career on television so he may not care if he gets hung with the “hypocrite” label (or worse) at this point.
As to help or hurt, ratings might be up for a few days to see what he says about the situation, perhaps longer if new details emerge, such as how many affairs and with whom, (if that is ever released, officially, rumored, or otherwise leaked — and some fiction will probably come with it), who was trying to blackmail him, threats (if any against him and/or family/workers/friends), etc. He may even have to fend of stories that come out on unrelated matters about his active… personal life (i.e. other things that might be hiding in the closet) as well.
Long term ratings? Depends on how many Nielsen boxes sit in houses that watch him and decided that he crossed a line and swear him off for good. I doubt it will be many so I doubt there will be much of a ratings change. Reports of protesters, nasty letters, drives to get sponsors to drop him and place ads elsewhere, and other similar activities bouncing around the news shows, that might be another matter. The potential for noise I suspect will be about the same as the Palin matter, maybe a bit higher. I’m also going to be a bit curious about the reaction at CBS HQ over this mess, if any.
Interesting. For better or for worse, I just changed around my schedule and set my PVR to record tonight’s show. Dave is at his best when he ad libs about serious topics and regardless of the topic it will likely be better than his usual shtick.
I like Letterman and am very disappointed that he cheated on his wife.
This was my first time watching Letterman in 5 years, and good lord he’s unfunny. A 3 minute monologue on skunks in New York???
Anyways, he played the incident up like a joke, and took way too long to get to the point. Whether the incident is actually a joke is debatable.
thedemonhog, the affair occurred while he was dating, but not yet married. (he shoulda mentioned this point for his own sake)
Jeremy, the incident is not a joke. the studio audience seemed confused (or just very stupid?) though and were laughing at the story the whole time.
I think certainly numbers will be up for Thursday night’s show at the very least, since the news broke (or the cynics will say, was leaked) early enough for the Internet and affiliates’ local news to build interest. However, in the long term, I doubt it would hurt much. I think this type of news would hurt Leno more because he has more of a good-guy, family-friendly image, whereas with Letterman, you always in the back of your mind expect to be thrown off guard by something he does, on the show or not. But I think there’s a lot to be said that he admitted to it rather than paying the extortionist or trying to keep the story under wraps and letting things leak out slowly. Obviously, he isn’t going into great detail, but I personally don’t feel he should be expected to go that far.
Dave’s a weasel. A lovable weasel, but still a weasel. I watched the show tonight (which I very rarely do) and saw he tell his side of the story. Yes, he played it up as a joke but … HELLO! … he’s a comedian. What did you expect?
Will it hurt him? No. His audience isn’t the religious right or probably few Republicans watch him. And if the religious right has any brains (don’t bet on it), they’ll not try to boycott him for his affairs. Boycotts don’t hurt TV shows. They do just the opposite. You need only look at Glenn Beck for proof of this.
Will it hurt his public image? No. He’s a lovable weasel. This behavior falls within those bounds. If Jay Leno did it, yes, it would hurt him, but he’s not Dave.
About the only thing that could come out of this is Sarah Palin now having fodder to make jokes about David Letterman. And if she does, the press will cover it and David Letterman will LOVE it. The more he and Sarah spar, the more it helps BOTH of them.
Thank you Jeremy for calling out the skunk jokes. God I hate when Letterman gets stuck on a topic like that for days and weeks at a time.
I didn’t see the episode tonight but I loved reading about how his audience of barking seals reacted to him telling his story.
Considering they applaud at every horrible joke and throw away comment he makes to the point that they sometimes start applauding after the set up of a joke, throwing the timing off for the joke itself….
And considering the way his audience reacted when he apologized for the Palin thing (both times)…….
I understand he’s a comedian, and he’s wired to try to get laughs….but that’s him trying to get laughs.
Not him talking and everytime he pauses, an applause break is required
I guess I lost my focus on that last comment. That was written so awfully some might think I was a Late Show writer.
It’s Bush’s Fault !!! ….This is ratings gold for letterman, it will be turned into a left, right issue, his fans will stay with him no matter what, just another day in tv land ..shock is the only thing he has left these days…
Nightstar:
“Extortion plot or not, this may be problematic for future jokes about politicians and celebrities messing with the staff. Something about glass houses and stones comes to mind.”
I thought so too. But Bill O’Reilly paid off a female co-worker because of unwanted sexual advances and it doesn’t seem to stop his nightly spin or bloviating. Just saying.