Posted on 06/15/2009 5:21:19 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
Letterman to Make Full Apology Tonight for Joke About Palin's Daughter By Brent Baker Created 2009-06-15 20:10
“David Letterman is making a full-throated apology for his controversial joke about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter,” TV Week reported a short while ago [1]. “During a taping of tonight's [Monday 6/15] edition of his CBS Late Show, Letterman went much further than his last explanation of the joke, in which he quipped that a baseball player had 'knocked up' Palin's daughter,” Josef Adalian wrote.
Though Palin and conservatives were outraged and demanded an apology [2] and retraction for a “joke” seemed aimed at the 14-year-old daughter though Letterman said he was referring to the 18-year-old daughter, it took the liberal columnist Mark Shields on PBS to convince Letterman he had a problem. Letterman will explain:
I was watching the Jim Lehrer Newshour -- this commentator, the columnist Mark Shields, was talking about how I had made this indefensible joke about the 14-year-old girl, and I thought, 'Oh, boy, now I'm beginning to understand what the problem is here. It's the perception rather than the intent.' It doesn't make any difference what my intent was, it's the perception. And, as they say about jokes, if you have to explain the joke, it's not a very good joke.
On Monday's show last week, Letterman's monologue included [2]: “One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game, during the seventh inning her daughter was knocked-up by Alex Rodriguez.” That Late Show also featured the “Top Ten Highlights of Sarah Palin's Trip to New York” with this entry: “Bought makeup from Bloomingdale's to update her 'slutty flight attendant' look.”
TV Week provided “a transcript of Letterman's comments, as supplied by CBS publicity.” The full text which should match what he'll say on tonight's Late Show [3]:
"All right, here - I've been thinking about this situation with Governor Palin and her family now for about a week - it was a week ago tonight, and maybe you know about it, maybe you don't know about it. But there was a joke that I told, and I thought I was telling it about the older daughter being at Yankee Stadium. And it was kind of a coarse joke. There's no getting around it, but I never thought it was anybody other than the older daughter, and before the show, I checked to make sure in fact that she is of legal age, 18. Yeah. But the joke really, in and of itself, can't be defended.
The next day, people are outraged. They're angry at me because they said, 'How could you make a lousy joke like that about the 14-year-old girl who was at the ball game?' And I had, honestly, no idea that the 14-year-old girl, I had no idea that anybody was at the ball game except the Governor and I was told at the time she was there with Rudy Giuliani...And I really should have made the joke about Rudy..." (audience applauds) "But I didn't, and now people are getting angry and they're saying, 'Well, how can you say something like that about a 14-year-old girl, and does that make you feel good to make those horrible jokes about a kid who's completely innocent, minding her own business,' and, turns out, she was at the ball game. I had no idea she was there. So she's now at the ball game and people think that I made the joke about her. And, but still, I'm wondering, 'Well, what can I do to help people understand that I would never make a joke like this?' I've never made jokes like this as long as we've been on the air, 30 long years, and you can't really be doing jokes like that. And I understand, of course, why people are upset. I would be upset myself.
"And then I was watching the Jim Lehrer 'Newshour' - this commentator, the columnist Mark Shields, was talking about how I had made this indefensible joke about the 14-year-old girl, and I thought, 'Oh, boy, now I'm beginning to understand what the problem is here. It's the perception rather than the intent.' It doesn't make any difference what my intent was, it's the perception. And, as they say about jokes, if you have to explain the joke, it's not a very good joke. And I'm certainly - " (audience applause) "- thank you. Well, my responsibility - I take full blame for that. I told a bad joke. I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception. And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke. It's not your fault that it was misunderstood, it's my fault. That it was misunderstood." (audience applauds) "Thank you. So I would like to apologize, especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the Governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke. I'm sorry about it and I'll try to do better in the future. Thank you very much." (audience applause)
HAHA he was watching Jim Lehrer(Figures) and FINALLY a lightbulb went off in his dimwit head saying “Oh wait a second, I think I finally get it, I think I finally understand why everyone is so angry at me, they thought, Oh boy, they thought I was talking about a 36 year old man raping a child, holy crap, no wonder.” Kinda reminds me of the South Park episode where Cartman finally came to the realization as to why people were saying that he did not come up with the “Gay Fish” joke, it was really Jimmy who came up with it
Letterman sounds like the typical liberal caught red handed... "I was just misunderstood." No, the truth is that David Letterman has lost his touch, hes just getting old. Johnny knew when to quit. David does not.
Never in our history have the comics and singers in this country been such haters of conservatives, or been so involved in the political process. Letterman, suffering dilusions of grandeur, considers himself the kingmaker of NY. He ranted for weeks about McCain skipping an appearance on his show.
I am sick of this insufferable double-standard of how liberal men and women are propped up, but conservatives, no matter just how conservative they are, must be systematically destroyed.
Neither am I. He thought it was okay because he didn't think she had a daughter at the game with her!!! How would that make it okay. He's just lying.
Too little too late.
The premise is that he is a shark jumping idiot and he needs to go!
Spot on. He figured he'd be whipping Conan's ass by now and he's not. Anything for ratings, which he may get tonight by announcing it in advance, but it won't last as anyone tuning in past tonight will quickly find out why the Tonight Show's been whipping his ass for the last 17 years...
“If CBS is releasing a transcript before the show even airs, the pressure must be coming from their advertisers to make this go away.”
Ding ding ding... winner.
If he truly was UNaware that it was Willow, he would have been MADE aware of it DURING THE FIRST BREAK within THAT show's taping.
And if he truly was sorry then about his mistake, he would have either CUT it from the tape before the show OR apologize for his vileness IN THE NEXT TAPING SEGMENT of the same show.
“... and I thought, ‘Oh, boy, now I’m beginning to understand what the problem is here. It’s the perception rather than the intent.’”
Translation: You people are too stupid to understand what I meant; so I’m forced to say I’m sorry. Here goes: “I’m sorry you’re so flipping stupid”.
How about the slutty flight attendants howler? I have known some hard working Airline attendant women who were proud of their jobs and set a high standard for good grooming and job performance.I wish they would sue CBS and Letterman just to make a point. The money award would make the point that not all filth spewed out by lazy performers gets a pass. Letterman has not been comedic for years and is a genuine pig, like those Beavis and Buttheads in his audience whom he depends on for applause. He might as well stay on as he will only be replaced by another RAT lackey. Sarah Palin is clearly on her way to greater things and Letterman is a has been who has not yet been told so. His usefulness is on the wane so he will be let go in due time. Any apology coming from Letterman is a lie and is a desperate attempt to hold on to a job that gives him relevance.
I doubt it was Shields that convinced him. He probably got some negative vibes from sponsors. And so much for Margaret Carlson’s prediction that Sarah Palin couldn’t win a fight with Letterman.
She is a pig.
I thought today was going to be "Tina as Sarah" day. Did someone tell Dave he was out of his freakin' mind?
He still thinks it is a matter of audience perception and not what HE ACTUALLY DID!
A non-apology apology. POS.
Bogus apology, but that’s the least that CBS should make him do. A little late, in my opinion. CBS has another black eye.
If only all of those wacky conservatives didn’t have such a wacky PERCEPTION of his harmless joke. People just misunderstood his INTENT, that’s all. And now poor ol’ dave is being forced to apologize for other peoples’ wackiness.
Gosh, this is all just so unfair to poor ol’ dave...NOT
The Perv is backpedaling fast as this thing is getting worse by the second for the gap tooth moron,and his enablers cBS.
That's because you understand common decency. He doesn't. It may take several rewrites before they get "the apology" to sound like the real thing.
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