Thursday, October 1, 2009

David Letterman: "Yes, I have" had affairs with female staffers

According to the New York Daily News, during the taping of tonight's "Late Show," David Letterman told "his stunned audience" about the grand jury testimony he made today: he had affairs with "several female staffers," and a blackmailer threatened to go public with evidence unless Dave paid $2 million in hush money.

"The 'Late Show' host received a package from an individual who claimed to have information on his dalliances and said he would be outed unless he came up with $2 million," according to the Daily News account.

Pity Dave's mom Dorothy -- the Daily News called her up for a quote. Dorothy said Dave's wife, Regina Lasko, had told her about the blackmail, but that she didn't know any details: "I'm looking forward to seeing the show tonight to see what he has to say."

Lasko and Letterman dated for over 20 years before finally tying the knot back in March.

At CNN.com, Dave is quoted as saying: "My response to that is, yes I have" slept with staffers. "Would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Perhaps it would. I feel like I need to protect these people -- I need to certainly protect my family."

The extortionist was caught with the help of the Special Prosecution Bureau of the Manhattan District Attorney's office. No word yet on the identity of the culprit.

8 comments :

  1. Anonymous said...

    I read about this minutes ago and I wasnt even done commenting on the other post when this one popped up. That was fast Talk Show News! This blog is awesome.

    Anyway, I was pretty damn suprised to hear about this. I never pegged Dave as the type who sleeps around, but I guess hes just a guy like any other after all (you know, a horndog, subconsciously looking to spread his seed, lol).

    I do feel sorry for his mom. Shes such a sweet lady.

    It seems things have been sucking for Dave this year. First with the Palin thing and then this. Im sure these things are taking away most of the enjoyment he might get from his improved ratings. It sucks.

    Santiago

  2. Anonymous said...

    Well, color me not terribly surprised (wasn't there a SPY Magazine article back in the day about Dave gifting female employees with gifts from Tiffanys? I thought at the time that one doesn't get diamonds to apologize for mere shouting matches -- if so, I'd be dripping in bling).

    But I'm glad Dave brought it up before Harvey Levin et al could.

    And Dave? Sexual harrassment training, dude. Seriously. Don't get your meat where you make your bread (or something like that).

  3. Anonymous said...

    Nobody has said anything about harrassment. He had consensual sex with his staff members and thats worlds apart from harrassment like Arnold use to do.

    As always, people are gonna make a huge fuckin deal about this. As if he was some sort of "SAINT" that should be held up to different standards than other guys.

    Santiago

  4. Anonymous said...

    I thought Dave's mom's surname was supposed to be a secret but I saw it on another blog's post about this story (probably quoting the Daily News).

  5. Anonymous said...

    Sorry, Santiago, but even consensual sex with underlings is a very, VERY bad idea. Especially if the underling keeps a diary. Who's going to say no to the Big Boss?

    Most companies have policies that prohibit romantic/sexual relationships with people with a direct line of report, such as Dave/Stephanie. I have to believe CBS or its corporate owner has a similar policy.

    Any CBS exec caught doing this would AT THE LEAST have to go through sexual harassment training.

  6. Anonymous said...

    Even if hes in a position of power, theres no telling how things happened. It could have been the interns trying to get HIM to sleep with them for all we know. Theres just not enough information out there yet.

    When I think of harrassment, I think about stuff like Arnold used to do, where he would walk up to hot members of the staff and grope them against their will or say sexual things to them over and over. Not consensual sex. But thats just me.

    Santiago

  7. Matt Haze said...

    I was shocked to hear about the news as well. As I watched Dave on Thursday night, you can tell that he is from the Johnny Carson-era of TV... and he proved it. I wrote on my blog about it... http://matthaze.com/?p=174

    love your blog! keep up the good work!

  8. Talk Show News said...

    You made some great points in your blog, Matt. Dave probably asked himself, "What would Johnny do?"