Friday, October 02, 2009
Screwing the Boss
Dave Letterman had no choice but to tell the story of the extortion attempt, & it was either on his show or in a press release. He did so awkwardly. The 11 o'clock news reported the story. The live audience didn't know.
We don't know the details of his sexual encounters with staff members, how many there were, when they happened. I hope they were not coercive. I hope the birth of Letterman's son ended the affairs. If so, then it's just a matter between him & the woman he married last March. It must have been an open secret around the Late Show. But those kinds of things are kept in-house in show business. No one has filed a sexual harassment suit.
Letterman is not hypocritical. Yeah, he mocks the sexual escapades of politicians, particularly those who preach family values & then go hiking on the Appalachian Trail. That's his job. He's not a politician or a preacher, he's an entertainer. He doesn't even have strong axes to grind on major issues. He seems less concerned that politicians be liberal or conservative than want elected officials not be stupid or bigoted, but needing the stupidity for his nightly monologues. He only seems liberal to the wingnuts because he thinks (like most America) Sarah Palin is a borderline lunatic, & he doesn't lose sleep over the stuff that gives Glenn Beck's fans insomnia.
Relax. This scandal has a ways to go.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
We don't know the details of his sexual encounters with staff members, how many there were, when they happened. I hope they were not coercive. I hope the birth of Letterman's son ended the affairs. If so, then it's just a matter between him & the woman he married last March. It must have been an open secret around the Late Show. But those kinds of things are kept in-house in show business. No one has filed a sexual harassment suit.
The suspect is Robert Joel Halderman, 51, an Emmy Award-winning producer of “48 Hours Mystery” on CBS, according to two people who requested anonymity, including a CBS employee and a law enforcement official.Stephanie ain't exactly a sex kitten. She was uncomfortable in heels, wobbling up & down the center aisle of the Ed Sullivan Theater. She was rather young for Dave. Quite a contrast to Dave's flirtatious interviews with Drew Barrymore & Julia Roberts, his self-deprecating hooker jokes, & when he acts like he wants to grope Martha Stewart & Barbara Walters.
Mr. Halderman was, at least at one time, living with one of Mr. Letterman’s longtime assistants.According to local records, Stephanie Burkitt shared a residence in Norwalk, Conn., with Mr. Halderman.
Ms. Burkitt is well known to fans of the show because for a long period several years ago Mr. Letterman brought her on the show often. He regularly joked with her about subjects like what she had done over the weekend. He gave her the nickname Monty, which she said she hated.
Letterman is not hypocritical. Yeah, he mocks the sexual escapades of politicians, particularly those who preach family values & then go hiking on the Appalachian Trail. That's his job. He's not a politician or a preacher, he's an entertainer. He doesn't even have strong axes to grind on major issues. He seems less concerned that politicians be liberal or conservative than want elected officials not be stupid or bigoted, but needing the stupidity for his nightly monologues. He only seems liberal to the wingnuts because he thinks (like most America) Sarah Palin is a borderline lunatic, & he doesn't lose sleep over the stuff that gives Glenn Beck's fans insomnia.
Relax. This scandal has a ways to go.
