A week after making a joke at the expense of Sarah Palin's 14-year-old daughter Willow, David Letterman apologized last night. "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," he said.
(YOUTUBE screenshot)Photos (1 of 1)
Palin accepts Letterman apology for joke about her 14 year old daughter
By Jimmy Orr | 06.16.09
Score one for Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
Refusing to back down from her criticism of David Letterman for his joke about her 14-year-old daughter, Palin pushed and pushed the issue and Letterman finally caved. It’s not something Letterman ever does. But Palin delivered on her longstanding warning that if her children are attacked, she’d fight like a grizzly bear. And the grizzly bear won (see video below).
“I was watching the Jim Lehrer ‘Newshour,’” Letterman explained last night. “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,” he said. “And as they say about jokes, if you have to explain the joke, it’s not a very good joke.”
He later said, “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.”
Accepted
Also delivering on her word that she would accept an apology, she did. Quickly. Without hesitation.
“Of course it’s accepted on behalf of young women, like my daughters, who hope men who ‘joke’ about public displays of sexual exploitation of girls will soon evolve,” Palin said in a statement.
“Letterman certainly has the right to ‘joke’ about whatever he wants to, and thankfully we have the right to express our reaction. And this is all thanks to our U.S. military women and men putting their lives on the line for us to secure America’s right to free speech - in this case, may that right be used to promote equality and respect.”
Joke
Of course at issue is the almost universally panned joke that Letterman told last week alleging that Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez “knocked up” Palin’s daughter Willow while she attended a Yankees game.
Letterman claimed the target was Palin’s 18-year-old daughter, Bristol. And because she was of the legal age, the joke was appropriate. However, Bristol didn’t attend a Yankees game. It was the 14-year-old who accompanied her Mom to the game.
Despite attempts to clarify what he meant last week, he never apologized. And the criticism grew louder and louder.
Blitz
Although Palin has been the pinata du jour of the media since taking the public stage late last August, we’ve never seen Palin go on the offensive like she did in the last week.
She launched a media blitz blasting Letterman at every stop. Her refusal to back down prompted even the left-leaning National Organization of Women to join in against Letterman.
Fire him
New York State Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb called on CBS to fire Letterman for the “shockingly inappropriate” joke.
“Firing Mr. Letterman would send a clear message that CBS will not tolerate any of its employees — even an established media figure like Mr. Letterman — making demeaning and degrading comments about women,” he said.
Todd
Although there was plenty of criticism against criticism, perhaps the strongest — not surprisingly — came from the Palins themselves. Especially Willow’s father, Todd.
“Any ‘jokes’ about raping my 14-year-old are despicable. Alaskans know it, and I believe the rest of the world knows it, too.”
——–
For the latest on any future Palin - Letterman feuds, follow us on Twitter!
<< Park in your own driveway? You’re a criminal! | MainComments
2. John Sherman | 06.16.09
Even though Letterman eventually apologized days afterward, is it enough? Where is being libel,and just joking line begin and end? If this was in a large retail business, where ensuring both employees and customers are save from abuse, what would be done about it? I’d say, at the least Letterman should get a strong repremand, and a signed letter in his file. In this case I think its reasonable to ask CBS, what type of action to David are they going to take? If they do nothing, it’ll appear that David is “bigger than CBS”. What signal does that give? On the other hand CBS might have put pressure on Letterman to apologize. IF that is the case, either way we should know about it. Because unlike most businesses, its the audience is lightnight with David Letterman customers, right?
3. buck turgidson | 06.16.09
Jeez, Jimmy–you fell for it too! It was rather obvious that 1) Letterman was not talking about Willow (he clearly intended Bristol to be the target, seeing how Bristol should know something, by now, about being knocked up) and 2) he was not talking about rape (statutory or otherwise). The claim that it was the other daughter and, therefore, subject to statutory rape, came from Palin. The woman can’t even keep her daughters straight!
Can you say, “manufactured controversy”? I thought you could.
And, apparently, you missed the joke in the apology. “It’s the perception rather than the intent.” That’s the standard line of people who give a non-apology–because they believe that they did nothing wrong, but they “apologize” for other people’s perception. In this case, it’s a joke on Palin, who rarely has any idea of what she’s talking about. If she’s the future of the GOP, we’ve become a one-party system.
4. Gus. Johnson | 06.17.09
… “I’m sorry about it, and I’ll try to do better in the future,” he said.
Do better? In what way?
Having been “forced” to watch the Letterman show (shown at 12 midnight in this country and with not much else to watch) I have never, repeat: NEVER, been able to crack as much as a grin at any of his jokes.
Not as negative criticism, but rather a “feedback” from a very occasional viewer: “Get another writer or better still cut out the jokes all together!”
Interviews; Yes, perhaps!
Jokes; No!
6. possum | 06.17.09
I’m really sorry to see such tripe at the CS Monitor site. Can’t they get anyone who can actually process information? Hint: the joke was NOT “about Palin’s 14-year-old daughter.”
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Leave a Comment
We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published.
Tip: Do not write a novel. Keep it short. We will not publish lengthy comments. Come up with your own statements. This is not a place to cut and paste an email you received. If we recognize it as such, we won't post it.
Please do not post any comments that are commercial in nature or that violate copyrights.
Finally, we will not publish any comments that we regard as obscene, defamatory, or intended to incite violence.
Jimmy Orr has worked in politics for the majority of his professional career working for two U.S. Senators, two Governors and one President. Most recently, Orr served as White House Spokesman and Internet Director for President George W. Bush and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger for Internet Communications.
David Cook is Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts. He was the Monitor's editor from 1994 to 2001. Cook is a graduate of Principia College, served in the U.S. Army, was a Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and is a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization.
1. RHarrisonScott | 06.16.09
Letterman’s recant no doubt came when CBS’s (and undoubtedly a flood of calls from the Letterman’s advertisers) feet were put to the fire, not because he has a conscience. I’m frankly appalled that he hasn’t been fired. When what’s face made demeaning comments about black female basketball players, they were off the cuff. Letterman’s comments were rehearsed.