Letterman: "The [stuff I was being blackmailed about] was that I have had sex with women who work for me on this show."What. the. fuck. audience? I mean I know it's hard to react to something like that being presented in a format where you're expected to be laughing and clapping, but obviously they understood the gravity of the issue because their first response was to gasp. Is it too much to ask to keep your serious face on for two straight minutes?
Audience: <gasps>
Letterman: "Now, my response to that is, 'Yes I have'."
Audience: <laughs, claps>
"Sources tell TMZ that Letterman and Birkitt had a sexual relationship that ended before 2003, when his son Harry was born.posted by ericb at 10:38 AM on October 2, 2009
Sources tell RadarOnline.com that 'Birkitt and Letterman slept together for a period of time before he married his girlfriend Regina had their son Harry' and that Birkitt is reportedly 'mortified Halderman is using her fling with Letterman to blackmail her boss.'"
Letterman: "The [stuff I was being blackmailed about] was that I have had sex with women who work for me on this show."What. the. fuck. audience? I mean I know it's hard to react to something like that being presented in a format where you're expected to be laughing and clapping, but obviously they understood the gravity of the issue because their first response was to gasp. Is it too much to ask to keep your serious face on for two straight minutes?
Audience: [gasps]
Letterman: "Now, my response to that is, 'Yes I have'."
Audience: [laughs, claps]
Dave confessed to it all on his show last night. It was a little awkward, because the audience kept laughing like a laugh-track on loop, and because Dave just got married last year to his ladyfriend of 23 years. They have a kid together.At least they didn't choose that moment to bring back the Arsenio Hall "woop-woop" and circling fist motions.
"And if there’s a lighthearted moment in any of this, and I’m not sure there really is, the third meeting – the third meeting is arranged whereby he’s given the check. Now I don’t think I’ve mentioned the amount up ‘til now. But he was asking $2 million. (gasps/laughter) Was that the foreigners? (applause) So the check is turned over, $2 million, and because I’m such a bonehead, you ever seen the golf tournaments where they have the giant check when the guy wins it? (laughter) But I couldn’t talk him into that."posted by ericb at 11:23 AM on October 2, 2009
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?posted by Jaltcoh at 11:50 AM on October 2, 2009 [4 favorites]
Most of the staff admired Letterman for his commitment to excellence. But Dave's post-mortems for each show could be witheringly negative. Letterman wouldn't beat up the staff; he would beat up himself, pointing out spots where he could have filled in a slow moment if he had only been quicker with a line. On some of the nights he felt he had totally fouled up, he would lock the door to his office to review the show on tape, and the staff would hear crashing noises through the door.Poor miserable bastard. But misery does spread, too. Even though he would apparently blame himself more than his staff, it must have been pretty damn unpleasant to watch him pull this shit.
During a commercial break on the set in the mid-1980's, the band was playing so loudly that it was impossible for Teri Garr, one of Dave's favorite guests, to make herself heard. When she all but shouted at him "How are you doing?" Letterman grabbed a pad on his desk, scribbled a note and passed it to her. "I hate myself," it read. Garr was a bit stunned. But when she tried to reassure Dave that he was, in fact, truly a wonderful guy, Letterman grabbed the note, underlined "I hate myself" twice and passed it back.
"...a new report [has] raised questions about Sen. John Ensign's efforts to cover up his affair with a campaign aide.posted by ericb at 1:37 PM on October 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
....The New York Times...said Ensign tried to get Doug Hampton, his lover's husband, a lobbying job to try to contain the damage. The Hamptons later went through Coburn to seek an $8.5 million settlement from the Nevada Republican before the affair became public, the paper said.
....The Senate Ethics Committee automatically opened a preliminary investigation into his conduct after receiving a complaint from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in June. The panel, which conducts business in strict confidentiality, can launch investigations on lawmakers on its own without receiving a complaint from an outside party.
The Times report raised questions about whether Doug Hampton lobbied Ensign and whether the senator facilitated the arrangement. Federal criminal law imposes a one-year ban on former congressional aides lobbying their ex-bosses or office colleagues.
After leaving his job working for Ensign, Hampton, in coordination with the senator and his staff, played a significant role in pushing the Washington agendas of NV Energy, the largest power company in Nevada, and Allegiant Air, a Las Vegas-based discount airline, the newspaper reported."*
One way I like to think about questions of "How serious a crime is this?" is "How seriously would I take it if someone did this to me?" I think the answer is: pretty seriously.I don't think that works to well for drug dealing and other vice crimes.
We married a few years ago and now have a little baby girl. You would deny us that? You're worse than the real Pope!Hey now, let's not lose perspective. The real pope would only care if you were wearing condoms.
Let's just say if I was a coworker of your wife, and you were also my supervisor, I'd be pretty upset about it. It suggests that if I have a complaint about her work, or another problem with her, that I cannot come to you to resolve the problem. It also suggests that any "perk" she gets, from tasks to assigned offices to whatever may not be on her merits as a worker but on her merits as a sex partner, whether that's actually true or not.That's kind of beside the point. If it were his brother, rather then his lover, your situation would be the same. The sexual harassment angle only enters in when there's an issue where other women feel pressured to have sex with the boss by the fact that the women who do have sex with him get perks. If it's not a question of "you could be treated like this too, if you sleep with me to" then it's not sexual harassment as far as I know (which isn't all that fair)
"Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a bar complaint with the Louisiana Office of Disciplinary Counsel against Senator David Vitter (R-LA) for violating Louisiana’s rules of professional conduct for lawyers."Video.
"A former "Late Show" intern came forward Saturday to say she is one of David Letterman's former flings.posted by ericb at 1:13 PM on October 3, 2009
"I was madly in love with him at the time," Holly Hester told TMZ.com. "I would have married him. He was hilarious."
The NYU alum said the relationship started when Letterman asked her on a date to the movies.
A year-long, secret romance ensued, she said, until the funnyman called it off.
Letterman, 62, admitted on air Thursday night that he had affairs with female staffers, but did not name them.*
So it's okay for him to reveal the affairs because it saves him $2M, but it would not be okay for the women to reveal it to make $2M?I don't know how you imagine people hooking up, but I imagine that Letterman did not expect it to cost him a fortune, and the women did not expect to make one. If you agree with me, then revealing the affairs was not "self-serving" and "narcissistic", but quite reasonable, unlike the hypothetical situation of the women revealing the affairs to make a fortune.
The problem isn't that he revealed it; it's the self-serving, narcissistic manner in which he did it. "Here's what I need, now."
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posted by jeremy b at 10:06 AM on October 2, 2009