David Letterman: Why I Don't Care About His Affair

Judging from the media coverage, it looks like David Letterman had an affair with Stephanie Birkitt, a young woman who is well known to anyone who's seen the show in the past several years. She started out as an intern at "Late Show," then moved on to become an associate producer at "48 Hours," where alleged extortionist Robert Joe Halderman still worked until his suspension by CBS yesterday. Birkitt returned to "Late Show" and became a popular on-air personality, known for her phone calls with Dave, appearances during viewer participation segments, and remotes from the Winter Olympic Games.

Some viewers are angry that Dave might have cheated on Regina Lasko, his partner of 20+ years. But here's why I'm not feeling the outrage -- we don't know what went on in Letterman and Lasko's relationship. Both of them are extremely private people. They may have chosen to not be exclusive or monogamous. Plus, it's not like Dave was extolling "family values," like John Edwards or Gov. Mark Sanford. Sure, he made jokes about those men, but he never held himself up as a paragon of moral virtue. Quite the contrary. This is someone who called himself "the last of the real gunslingers" for managing to avoid marrying Lasko for so long, and has admitted that he "behaved badly" during his first marriage to Michelle Cook.

The only thing that would raise my ire would be if Letterman had somehow used his position as Birkitt's boss to threaten her into having a sexual relationship with him. Granted, some people may feel that any workplace relationship between a boss and an underling is inappropriate, as the balance of power is skewed. Some companies have rules in place to forbid such relationships. We can probably assume that no such stricture existed at Worldwide Pants. I'm willing to give Letterman the benefit of the doubt that the relationship was consensual.

Dave is a man who inspires fierce loyalty among his staffers -- look at the amazing number of people who have been with him since virtually the beginning of his TV talk show career, from Biff Henderson to Jude Brennan and Barbara Gaines. Letterman is obviously a complex, difficult, prickly person, but all evidence indicates that he's also a straight-up guy. It's interesting to note that the person threatening Dave with extortion was not Birkitt, but her ex-boyfriend. Stephanie herself is still working at "Late Show" -- and, according to RadarOnline.com, is "mortified" that Halderman would try to use her affair with Letterman as blackmail fodder.