Here's the story:
The controversy started with a joke Letterman cracked in Monday's monologue about Sarah Palin attending a Yankee game during her visit to New York:
"One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game," Letterman said.
"During the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."
To anyone but the most knee-jerk right-wing partisan, it was apparent that he was referring to Palin's daughter Bristol, who was famously knocked up by her boyfriend. Indeed, that is what makes the joke funny. Letterman has told repeated jokes about Bristol in a similar vein, most recently when she launched her widely mocked abstinence campaign. But Palin took it as an inappropriate remark about her 14-year-old daughter, Willow, who was with her at the game.
"Laughter incited by sexually-perverted comments made by a 62-year-old male celebrity aimed at a 14-year-old girl is...disgusting," Palin said in a statement.
Todd Palin also chimed in:
"Any 'jokes' about raping my 14-year-old are despicable. Alaskans know it, and I believe the rest of the world knows it, too."
Letterman was compelled to respond on Wednesday night's show. Here are excerpts released by CBS:
"We were, as we often do, making jokes about people in the news and we made some jokes about Sarah Palin and her daughter, the 18-year-old girl, who is – her name is Bristol, that's right, and so, then, now they're upset with me…"
"These are not jokes made about her 14-year-old daughter. I would never, never make jokes about raping or having sex of any description with a 14-year-old girl. I mean, look at my record. It has never happened. I don’t think it’s funny. I would never think it was funny. I wouldn’t put it in a joke…"
"…Governor Palin, if you're watching, I would like you to consider coming to New York City – you and Todd as my guests, or leave Todd at home – I'd love to have you on the show. It'd be exciting…"
"All right, so there, I hope I've cleared part of this up. Am I guilty of poor taste? Yes. Did I suggest that it was okay for her 14-year-old daughter to be having promiscuous sex? No."
1 comment:
Letterman is an entertainer and everyone with a brain knew he was talking about Bristol. Now Sarah wants Americans to forget her daughter is a drunk/slept with her boyfriend at 17 and is the first child's real mother. Bristol now has a new boyfriend and he's staying at her home overnight with no problems. Look for Sarah to be a grandmother yet again. Sarah got 4 votes out of 250,000 people polled as the question of who is the Republican Leader. Sarah brought wing nuts out as she started her hate speeches during the campaign.
Post a Comment