David Letterman blackmailed over sleeping with staffers

Frankly, I don't see why he even mentioned the incident at all, since it's not really any of our business. After all, he's not an elected official.

 

Just watched the clip over youtube.

Letterman made a smart move to confess the matter in his show. The message was not meant to be sent to the audience but to those who plan to blackmail him in this regard. They thought he would feel embarrassed and would give anything to avoid the story from going into public. He responded resolutely. And it is nowhere better than the venue of his own stage if he decided go public because there is his controlled environment. The only person not deserved to this is his wife (his son is too young to know what has happened?), it is truly unfair to her.

 

Wow...David Letterman is a douche. Never would have suspected that.

 

Two points...

1) Not sure why being an elected official would change anything in this instance.
2) Letterman was obviously letting it all out on his own terms, as opposed to the inevitable rumor and innuendo that would have surfaced following the arrests/trial. That would probably have been even harder on his family.

I don't think Dave admitted to adultrey (wasn't he married rather recently?) but regardless I hope he can salvage his marriage and his family.

EDIT: So apparently (per the yahoo article) he's been seriously involved with his now wife since ~1986. So it's highly likely he at least cheated on her.

 

Not knowing the whole story, why would it even be an issue if this affair occurred outside the time he was married. It is a fair assumption that this occurred while he was married.

The staffer should have not gone the blackmail route. She should have sued for sexual harassment. Even if she was a willing participant, she probably could have received a nice settlement.

 

Too bad he didn't afford his wife and son the same class.

 

It was not the staffer that blackmailed. It was some dude from "48 hours" apparently.

link

And I agree that the "cheated vs adultrey" thing is really a moot point...

EDIT (again): I guess, for me, I'd find it for more acceptable if it occurred prior to his son's birth. I mean, it's still a jerk thing to do, but it becomes much worse post-kids.

Meh - I'm going to bow out. I don't like threads that feign moral righteousness while poking into someone's private life.

 

He's only been married for five months.

 

sleep around on your girlfriend you are about to marry and has birthed your children. Then come back and let me know how that turned out for you.

 

And he's been with the mother of his child since 1986. In many states if Dave was living with her, he has been in a common law marriage for years.

Not to bash Dave...just pointing it out.

 

People have workplace relationships. It's not uncommon.

The woman he apparently had a relationship with is Stephanie Birkitt. For anyone who watches Letterman, you know exactly who that is. Reports say that the affair ended in 2003, before his son was born.

 

Why does that make him a douche? This morning they were saying that he wasn't even married when he slept with employees.

It happens all the time, he didn't make them sleep with him.

How is sex between consenting adults douche-worthy?

 

Doesn't mean he cheated on her, she may have known about his sexual relations and may not even have an issue with it.

Dave and his wife were older, and had been friends for a long time. She certainly knew of his personality and behavior before hand.

I don't think it is a big deal at all.... far worse things

 

oh, so it's not uncommon you say. well why didnt you just say so.

again, go sleep with someone else while you have a girlfriend and see what she thinks about it.

Obviously you're a big fan, and that's fine. But don't be so niave and feel the need to defend Dave

 

I don't think it's fair to assume that - he only recently married his baby's momma who he has been dating for 23 years on again off again.

 

We have no idea when the affairs happened or what his situation was with his current wife at the time they occurred.

I'm sure the details will eventually come to light in this day and age of TMZ's.

 

Regardless, I still think sleeping with his staffers is douche-worthy. He is in a position of power and he took advantage of it. Obviously, Letterman's hand was forced and he had to come out or be blackmailed. Don't expect everyone to commend him for coming forward and dismiss his behavior as acceptable. Yes...we don't know all the circumstances. I feel I know enough to express my opinion of what he did. If you find it acceptable and non douche-worthy, then that is up to you. I didn't like it when Clinton did it. I didn't like it when Bob Barker did it. I don't like it when boss's sleep with the employees or secretaries under them. It's an abuse of power, a conflict of interest... whatever you want to call it. I might be a little more lenient if it were just one but multiple?

 

I refuse to comment on this until I've seen photos of the staffers.

 

I should have put a smiley face or something. I have absolutely no idea who was winning the ratings war. People really look at that stuff?

 

Advertisers/sponsors sure do...