DAVID LETTERMAN
APOLOGY REDUX:
SHAME ON DAVE FOR BUCKLING
UNDER TO PALIN'S LIES
I feel sad for David Letterman, because in spite of the reasons he put forth in his latest mea culpa Monday night on The Late Show, he caved in, I believe, out of misplaced fear that he might be banished from his late night throne.
He won't admit it, but I believe it's true. In my article last week
I felt he went too far when he went on and on about how he would never,
ever tell a sexual joke about a fourteen-year-old. He looked straight
at the camera and then said something to the effect of, "Hey, I'm sorry
we made a mistake as to who was at the game, but you have to believe I
was talking about Sarah Palin's adult daughter Bristol." All this, though
there was little question that the vast majority of people who had
watched knew Letterman's joke was about the Palin daughter who'd gained
national fame as an expectant teenage mother.
It wasn't a great joke, but it was typical Letterman humor. This is
a man who routinely makes fun of people in the news, often with fantasy
references, so the Alex Rodriguez sex tryst fell right in with his
normal fare. The sexual escapade was obviously phony and concerned a
young woman who'd been much talked about in the national media
regarding her youthful promiscuity -- a young lady whose fruits were
paraded at the Republican convention and during the campaign by her
ambitious mother.
Why couldn't Letterman joke about Bristol? You mean it's okay to
make constant fun -- even today eleven years later -- of Monica
Lewinsky, still the butt of his monologue barbs, not to mention unkind
comments about her weight? And as to his probable left-leaning
politics, it didn't stop Letterman from ad nausea comic slurs about
Bill Clinton and Hillary's conjugal relationship.
I repeat, no one of any reasonable intelligence thought he was talking
about the fourteen-year-old Willow Palin. It was her mother who framed
it as such, due to some bad research on the Letterman staff's part, as
there was only a passing mention to an unnamed Palin daughter at the
Yankee game. It was Sarah Palin, a two bit governor of one of our
nation's smallest states and the bottom half of a failed presidential
campaign, who, in her zeal to stay in the spotlight, jumped at the
chance to get back at one of the many comic commentators who've
previously enjoyed many jokes at her expense. And she kept repeating it
and repeating it even well after Letterman -- in a smart move to
quickly defuse the controversy -- clarified rather emotionally last
week on his show that it was Bristol who was the gag's target.
Did Palin change her tune and say, "Oh, but even though you were
talking about Bristol it's still not right," which might have been
questionable due to her daughter's adult age, not to mention her
appearances on TV talk shows about abstinence. But she didn't and chose
to ignore the truth, and at that point Palin was no longer a protective
mother but an out and out liar.
However, she is not alone to blame, because the media wouldn't let
up and gave Sarah Palin far too much leash, rarely questioning her
motives or forcing her to deal with Letterman's clarification that the
remarks were about Bristol. Indeed, many of the scathing TV attacks
featuring Palin let her put forth blistering remarks, characterizing
Letterman as a lecher and possibly a pedophile. There were TV reports
that actually ended the story there, with no follow-up information that
Letterman repeatedly had denied the joke was about the younger
daughter, no doubt leaving some watching the news to believe Palin had
all her facts in order.
The media coverage was so absurd that, according to Letterman, he
felt obliged to apologize again. In particular, because of a remark
condemning him by Mark Shields on the PBS Jim Lehrer Report.
For Mark Shields to continue spreading Palin's lies about Letterman's
joke, saying it was "indefensible," and that Letterman must have been
aware he was talking about a 14-year-old was insupportable. It
apparently hit Letterman hard, though, leading to his second apology
last night.
Look, Letterman is in show biz and is probably a bit egocentric and
neurotic. He kept going on about how his intent didn't matter, that it
was the perception that counted. But how could there be such a
perception, except for the media driving it with unrelenting zeal?
So Letterman buckled under the pressure, and that's too bad, because
what he has done in this unusual act of cowardice -- he was one of my
heroes -- is open the door for other groups to complain and/or to make
him think far too much about satirizing anyone in the future. Satire
full of silliness, setting famous people in places and situations
clearly untrue in order to pay off the punch line. And his barbs spare
almost no one or group.
For goodness sake, he has continually made fun of short people with
his constant references to New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg as such.
He has mocked old folks, including his mother, about whom he has told
nonsensical jokes about her drinking. He has contrasted our president's
schedule with John McCain's, giving images of the Arizona U.S. Senator
that make him look like someone with borderline Alzheimer's disease,
engaged in run of the mill tasks to fill his time. He has offended gay
folks with jokes like, "Did you watch the Tonys last night? [after
applause]: You must all be gay." And he routinely mocks the ethnicity
and competence of New York City taxi drivers.
So I worry, I really do, where all this will lead. It may make CBS
happier and it may reassure Letterman's future on his late night forum,
but will the show be as good if he has to worry about what he's going
to say? Ironically, his monologue prior to his apology had zingers and
political humor, and he made fun of the controversy, but all at his own
expense. Apart from self-deprecatory remarks, will he now start to
censor himself beforehand with his writers and, worse, when he
interacts with his guests on the panel? All it has to take is another
person to seriously complain and mislead the media and public as Sarah
Palin has shamelessly done.
Letterman may insist this is the end of it and he will go back to
essentially the way things were. I hope he does, but I won't believe
it's true until he gets back on the proverbial horse which recently
threw him and summarily launches another zinger at Palin when she
deserves it.
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