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If someone woke up from a nine-month slumber last night around midnight, having them tune into The Late Show probably would have been a good way to ease them back into their new present. There was good old Dave, in the midst of a public feud with one-half of the McCain-Palin ticket, spending a good eight minutes of his nightly broadcast dedicated to butting heads in classic Letterman style: dry, detached and feigning ignorance.
But nine months later things are a little different—now it's Sarah Palin that Letterman is sparring with. The trouble began when Letterman first raised Palin's ire by making a joke in which he referred to her "slutty flight attendant" look. From there, his jokes got a little racier and used her daughter as a punchline—one about A-Rod trying to impregnate her and another about keeping Eliot Spitzer away from her during the Alaska Governor's trip to New York.
But it was 14-year-old Willow who accompanied her parents during this Empire State jaunt. When Palin caught wind of that, she responded, "Laughter incited by sexually perverted comments made by a 62-year-old male celebrity aimed at a 14-year-old girl is not only disgusting...(it) contributes to the atrociously high rate of sexual exploitation of minors by older men who use and abuse others." Letterman claimed he was joking about the 18-year-old Bristol Palin, "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."
And while the clip finds Letterman wishing that the Palins come back to New York and work it all out with him face-to-face, Palin is telling the host not to hold his breath. The Palin spokesperson added, "The Palins have no intention of providing a ratings boost for David Letterman by appearing on his show. Plus, it would be wise to keep Willow away from David Letterman." Burn notice.
And Verne Gay of Newsday says, "While Dave often makes a joke of getting current events hopefully wrong or twisted, the joke's implication to anyone who followed that day's news was that this WAS the 14-year old and not the 18-year old he was talking about."
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the only thing that is shitty about this, is that it keeps that dumb ass from alaska in the news.
You nailed it. Guess she want's to use her other daughter as a constant talking point...
I agree that Palin is dumb and her family is a mess, but she's still the elected governor of a state, which I think still demands some respect. It's okay to make jokes about her but a little class would be nice. Same goes for Paterson and the blind jokes.
And before anyone pulls the Spitzer/Blagojevic card, those guys did outrageous things and were publicly humiliated by their own actions. They deserve every ounce of low-brow ridicule they get.
And Spitzer and Blagojevich are public figures. Sure, Bristol Palin was on the cover of People and is giving interviews all around, but just because she had sex with her high school boyfriend doesn't mean A-Rod would impregnate her.
The slutty flight attendant remark was also stupid—why not a "Caribou Barbie" wardrobe reference?
Sorry Jen, I have to disagree with you. Bristol Palin became a public figure the second she decided to actively pursue a spotlight on news outlets.
If the octo-mom can be mercilessly made fun of by late night talk show hosts, then so can the Palins.
But Bristol Palin IS a public figure!
And a hypocritical one - still advocating for teen abstinence despite her pregnancy!
So she's fair game.
"Does that mean 18-year-old rape jokes are okay?"
No it doesn't. But the original line was: "During the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."
Bristol's 18, so rape isn't implied if she's the target of that crack. Willow is 14, so statutory rape is implied if it is said about her.
But like barryap, I assumed (I happened to be watching, something I do maybe once a month) he was referring to Bristol based on the fact that she's the daughter who has been in the news for being "knocked up."
Poor taste, sure. But comedians have been making tasteless jokes since the dawn of comedy. Probably more will continue to do so if they know it gets their name, network, and sometimes even time slot mentioned in news stories repeatedly. Best way for Palin to respond was simply not to.
The jokes never implied it was a rape.
The Palin's are the ones who are putting the cry out to heavens on that assumption.
Also, I did see some coverage about her trip on the news, but none of them mentioned which daughter was with her. So when he made the Elliot Spitzer and A-Rod jokes, I clearly assumed it was the oldest one.
That's what's he's defending in this statement. It was in poor taste but it's being turned into something worse than it was.
Exactly, where is this "rape" stuff coming from? It's a crack at A-Rod! Not Bristol!
I love Dave, but I think this was a low point for him. The jokes were not only mysogynist, but even worse...stale and not relevant. How many times can you beat a dead horse? The election was 7 months ago! And as far as being in poor taste, I think its totally fine to make jokes about Palin as a political figure, but not as a woman (calling her slutty...she may be attractive, and she may wear trendy clothes, but by no stretch does that qualify her as being slutty in any way....a totally sexist comment) and certainly not about the unfortunate situation her teenage daughter is now in. Dave needs to work on putting his political beliefs aside, and being more respectful to people's private lives. I think there is a line, and I do think he's crossed it several times leading up to and following the election. I think this will be a lesson to Dave, and he'll not make this mistake again.
"I think this will be a lesson to Dave..."
yeah, from the video he seems pretty repentant of his sins. it's late night TV, always low brow and occasionally even funny. don't act like dave is pretending to provide respectable social or political discourse just to validate your being offended.
Given that Bristol is now working as a spokeswoman for abstinence charities and continuing to operate in the public sphere, it's absolutely relevant.
It's called "COMEDY"
It's supposed to be offensive!
Otherwise it wouldn't be funny!
Obvious logic like the above flies right over those who are blinded by their (usually narrow) political beliefs. Bravo!
Ummm...I keep up with the news, and I never assumed the joke was about the 14-year-old. I thought the pregnancy joke was referring to the one who, you know, got pregnant.
he brought that joke out for the conan hype
They should send Palin a bouquet of roses. She's put him in the headlines everywhere with her over-reaction.
Conan is funny. Letterman ... maybe 15 years ago.
Honestly, I thought the joke was on A-Rod. He has the track record of promiscuity.
Palin should probably be told Letterman doesn't write his own jokes.. poor thing
Whatever. She and her husband are both secessionist traitors. They deserve to be imprisoned.
Dave backed down like a little bitch. I hear there are people on 52nd street with signs that say 'Dave Letterman likes 14 year old girls'.
I love Dave! Palin is just Dave is giving her a few more headlines.
Sooooo........what about tasteless jokes on Palin should I care about again?
Sooooo........what about tasteless jokes on Palin should I care about again?
"During the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."
You know, now having thought about it the joke would have been better if it had been about Willow. Sure, even more tasteless, but funnier. Dave held back to be politically correct!
"During the seventh inning, her other daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."
Comedy gold!
A lot of Alaskans are having a tough time and wondering why their leader spends so much time 6 time zones away and who is paying for this. She might not win reelection. If so, her career is toast.
Here's hoping! I would love not to hear about her ever again.
If only Palin would realize that David Letterman is a zombie and that the only potential victims of his are those within spatter range of his rotting flesh.
Gross.
but awesome.
If it's okay for her to be all over the news (Bristol), she's fair game for late night talk. The fact that he didn't specify her name shouldn't mean much considering her 14 year old didn't get pregnant (yet) and wasn't a heated issue, therefore everyone thinks of Bristol, not whoever it is. LAME.