If there’s one thing David Letterman has learned this week, it’s that a little contrition and self-deprecating humor can go a long way.
After a shocking admission about office affairs and an alleged blackmail plot, The Late Show host is winning back his fans’ respect with jokes (”I got into the car this morning and the navigation lady wasn’t speaking to me”) and apologies, including one directly to his wife, Regina Lasko, and his staff, whom he thanked for ”putting up with something stupid I’ve gotten myself involved in.” According to the Manhattan district attorney’s office, that ‘’something stupid” came to light after Robert ”Joe” Halderman, a producer at CBS’ 48 Hours Mystery, threatened to expose Letterman’s sexual trysts with employees if the comedian didn’t fork over $2 million. Halderman pled not guilty on October 2, and is next due in court on November 11.
While the October 5th episode was up 14 percent in ratings from his season-to-date average, questions linger over whether CBS and Late Show’s production company, Worldwide Pants, should launch internal investigations into the comedian’s conduct. ”Clearly CBS has a moral and political obligation to investigate this,” says NOW president Terry O’Neill, who’s also a lawyer. But a Worldwide Pants spokesman says that the company circulates an employee manual each year that addresses harassment, while also saying, ”Dave is not in violation of our policy, and no one has ever raised a complaint against him.” In the meantime, Letterman has demonstrated an extraordinary ability to preempt the scandal by getting ahead of it, both by issuing his sincere mea culpas and by poking fun at his predicament. And so far, his survival strategy seems to be working. Says PR crisis expert Howard Bragman, ”He’s handling a bad situation as well as he can.”
For more on how Letterman is weathering the scandal — plus a special report on blackmail in Hollywood, which has affected A-list stars from Tom Cruise to Oprah Winfrey — pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, on stands Friday, October 9.
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Lame! I don’t want to read crap about this dirt old scumbag.
So Letterman screw young interns at the work place, cheat on his girlfriend and trash the CBS stuff and we should aplause him for that?
Only in America.
Actually, Lola, I’d like to applaud your spelling! Bravo!
Only in America would they have idiots like you Lola.
If you mean “trash the staff” he didn’t do that – the rest of the dirtbag media did that.
This begs the question. . then, why did you do so and feel further compelled to comment?
then dont read it idiot
For God’s sake. How much more embarrassing does he intend to make this for his wife and son. Shut the hell up and deal with your mistakes privately. What an ass.
This isn’t Dave bringing it up again. It’s an EW cover bringing it up.
Oh, so Dave was coerced into doing this cover? I get it now – the big bullies at EW made him strip down to his boxers against his will.
There’s no actual interview with Dave mentioned in the article. EW doesn’t need permission to put a person on the cover. Besides, have you never heard of photoshop? Does that look like a posed picture for the cover of a magazine to you?
Dave got world-wide pantsed.
yeah , I think this will not go down as one of EW’s best selling issues. Bad choice of cover, but they couldn’t ignore the story . Unfortunately ( for the rest of the stuff in it) the issue will be bypassed by many.
By taking 2 days to talk about it he made it a DEAD news story in 4 days, if he had tried to make a secret of it it would have lasted MONTHS…he handled it brilliantly.
The only reason this was muted was he is a celebrety. It’s amazing entertainers including media would hang a politician for having an affair in south america but this guy gets away with multiple possible rapes in his own office.
HYPOCRISY IN USA is so much like DISCRIMINATION of the ’60’s.
Noel, where do you get the idea that these were anything other than consentual relationships? Calling them rape is false, libelous and malicious.
WHOA you can NOT call them rapes. Rock Golf is right…that is malicious libel. If you were an actual publication saying that, you would get sued faster than you can blink.
Totally agree.
Yeah, doesn’t he wish it were that easy. How many congressman would love that!
i agree. this is getting really annoying. i don’t even care about this story– EW just keeps bringing it up. is it really big news? i feel like everything with letterman lately is a publicity stunt. he needs to get over himself and focus on his family after all this crap. there are so many more relevant things that could be on the EW cover.
Oh, Jordan. . .
“there are so many more relevant things that could be on the EW cover.”
And there are so many channels on your television and magazines on the newsstand. Or are you compelled to somehow become involved?
It’s an entertainment magazine…
If I try and think real hard I bet that he didn’t pose for that picture just for this cover, but I bet that was a photo he posed for a long time ago and EW is using now because it is appropriate. See sometimes the photos are stock photos they use, like when they had the beatles on the cover a few weeks ago John Lennon didn’t really pose for that. He is dead and so is George. Like on the cover of books with um George Washington, he didn’t really pose for that because he’s a rotten corpse at this point, the author says “gosh that would be a good photo. I will use that.” I imagine that’s what happened with this. I could be wrong and maybe the EW writer called up Letterman and said ‘I’m doing a story about your scandal would you pose in your underwear for it?’ and Letterman said ‘yeah nothings going on right now. Why not.’ But if i think real hard and wait for something to come out – i bet that’s what happened. Hey EW your ads all over this site are so cool and make me so interested in the product please keep doing it. In fact do more.
My first reaction was shock, that Letterman would pose for this cover. But then it occurred to me that it’s a) an old photo or b) doctored in Photoshop. I haven’t seen the magazine, has anyone? Does it give credit to a photographer for the cover? I’m almost tempted to buy it, but not quite.
Probably the most sick cover I ever seen.
Apparently Steve hasn’t yet learned how to change the channel or turn off the television.
@ Steve. You are correct. If he would have kept his wick dry outside of his marriage none of this would have happened. It makes great media though which, unfortunately, seems to matter more to Dave than his morals. What an ass.
Okay, first off Letterman was not married when he had his flings. He didn’t get married until this year in March. He cheated his girlfriend, not a nice thing, but much different from an affair during Marriage. Second yes, Letterman should stop this. We’ll be getting oversaturated with this crap in a few months when Helderman’s criminal trial begins.
hmmm..latest reports are saying the boyfriend caught letterman making out with his girlfriend in AUGUST. You do the math.
While I appreciate that his wife is embarrased and this has hurt her, all of these trysts took place BEFORE he was married. He and Regina dated since 1986. Are you telling me she had no idea why they weren’t married sooner? If you are with someone for that long and they are taking trips with other people across the country, I’m pretty sure you have to know what’s happening, especially if you’ve been together 20+ years without being married. It’s embarrasing that this came out, but it seems to me that once the two of them committed to getting married, he was no longer involved with other people.
It was revealed that Dave was having an affair with a subordinate as recently as last fall. He was indeed married, and whether or not this person felt pressured, he should not have gotten involved with a person who worked for him. Bad news all the way around.
I can’t believe the women who are supporting this misogynistic crap. Wisen up, lady!
Dear GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT, They were married in March 2009 which is THIS year. So last fall would be BEFORE they got married.
WOW! So it’s more acceptable to cheat on someone you’ve been with since 1986 if you’re not married to them?! It’s a riciculous technicality. Letterman is scum, he cheated on the woman he was seriously involved with. Whether married or not, the man is still scum.
Yeah, I mean they practically were married since they’d been together so long. A piece of paper shouldn’t be what stands between making it more unacceptable.
My point in saying he wasn’t married is that there was obviously a difference for this couple between being married and not being married. You have no idea if they had an open relationship prior to getting “the piece of paper”. In fact, did you know that he also met Regina when she worked for him?! I’m not saying Letterman is some upstanding citizen, clearly he was enjoying his celebrity, however, if he was with Regina for 20+ years and he ends his flings prior to getting married, it sounds like he unlike many other people take marriage seriously, in that you don’t committ unless you know you can. From all reports he was in multiple consenual relationships before he was married, and one relationship after he was married. To me, there is a difference, but in my eyes I feel like his wife knew who he was before, especially if she met him the same way he met these other flings and stuck around for 20+ years with no committment.
M, you don’t have to accept anything. The nature of Letterman’s relationship with his wife is really none of your business.
Why do you care???
@MrNiceGuy…why? Is he up for sainthood (as if that would be reason)?
You’re absolutely right Becksux. Definitely not, his behavior precludes that. I guess it’s too much to ask a man guilty of infidelity to honor a commitment. I myself can’t stand the taste of Dave’s Kool-Aid, you can have mine.
You do not know if the scandal was during his marriage or not…he hasn’t been married to her very long…he is handling it brilliantly
Letterman “apologizes” then makes a joke about it. That is unbridled arrogance. I wonder if his wife thinks it’s that funny. Keeping the whole sordid mess up front is little more than a calculated ratings booster. Shame on Letterman and shame on those who applaud him.
I feel bad for his wife. Not only does she have to deal with the humiliation but also has to deal with him going on and on about it on his show, no less. Shut up, Dave and go crawl in a cave and stay there.
On and on? He’s mentioned it TWICE – once when he originally informed the audience, and then when he apologized to his wife and staff. Just because the blogosphere is having field day with this doesn’t mean that Dave himself is going “on and on” about it.
2 times. those two times he went on about it. managed to crack jokes in between his appologies. i don’t think his wife would be amused by it. As a matter of fact, I can bet she isn’t amused by any of it.
None of our business. It’s not like he’s a priest with little boys or a Congressman preaching morals only to fly off to Argentina (Sanford) to have an affair, or a Congressman (Craig) cruising men’s bathrooms for gay sex, or a Congressman like Ensign having an affair with a married woman and another Congressman Coburn, covering it up, or…Jimmy Swaggart and a prostitute, or…well, you know….the whole immoral majority…
Actually he didn’t talk about it at ALL last night. Not even a wry joke or funny look.
The guy’s job is to joke about people in the news. Right now, that means himself. Not an easy thing to do, but he’s doing a great job–which demonstrates why he is king of late night.
So he had sordid sex with some young ones.
Big deal.
So did Roman Polanski, these guys have the money and can get away with it.
How can you compare an affair (extramarital or not) with raping and drugging a 13 year old and then fleeing the country for 30 years? Dave is the one who has had a crime committed against him. Roman is a fugitive and a sick pervert. You just can’t get beyond your jealousy of the rich and talented to differentiate between the two of them, I guess.
You’re right Emmy. There is no comparison between Letterman and Polanski. Letterman has consentual relationships with adult females. Polanski drugged and raped a child. HUGE difference.
The only common factor are the wackos who are only to willing to defend the both of them.
Hmmmm…you know something about minors? You’re in better blackmail position than these two then!
You cannot compare the 2. Polanski raped and drugged. Letterman couldn’t keep it in his pants. Big difference
Seems to me that he was backed into a corner on making his private life public. Last I knew sex between consenting adults was still legal in this country. He probably figured he should just admit it and not waste the Supreme Courts time.
The Supreme Court??
Yes the Supreme Court. All of this publicity over adults having consensual sex reminds me of Clinton era.
He was blackmailed! Letterman is not the one who committed a CRIME.
Whatever “affairs” that occured by consenting adults should be for his private life. It is only worth money because he is famous. Letterman is obviouslty dealing with this awkward situation the way he feels is best. Time for everyone to move on…
I agree with the first two posters. Good grief David can’t you deal with your mistakes in private. You should be working on making things right with your wife. Not posing for covers of magizines. This man is being rewarded for behaviour that people thought in the past was a bad. Yes I understand about the blackmail part of the case. But lets not forget that it he had not being cheating on his wife at his work with his employees that would have been no blackmail. Enough of the poor victim David Letterman. Grow up David accept responsibility for your actions and somehow manage to do that without a tv camera recording all of it. Perhaps your ratings won’t be as high as they were with your confession and the following night discussion. But maybe your marriage might be in a little better shape if you weren’t out there talking about your cheating on a comedy show.
I agree it is between he and his wife—-however with a blackmailer, i thought he pulled the legs out from under this yahoo brilliantly! I’m actually a new fan!
LOL @ The Supreme Court!!
Another celebrity cover on Entertainment Weekly. Shocking. It’s baffling that Time Warner still produces both EW and People, when they are essentially the same magazine. My guess is that Where the Wild Things Are was planned for the cover and got cut for this overhyped scandal that everyone already knows about.
A celebrity cover on an entertainment magazine? How shocking and unexpected!
Ummmm….EW is an entertainment magazine. When DOESN’T it have a celebrity on the cover???
I guess I should have clarified for the retarded people. Obviously, I meant a story ABOUT a celebrity… as opposed to a story about an actual entertainment property such as a compelling new film or TV show, which is what Entertainment Weekly used to cover before it morphed into just another trashy celebrity tabloid.
I would think that a story about the blackmail of people in the entertainment industry would be fall under the category of a compelling entertainment industry story …
Definitely see your point. But it looks like this cover with a pantsless Dave is more about the celebrity scandal.
Who the hell picked this stupid cover photo? Nice making Letterman looking as pervy as possible.
I agree. Super tacky EW. Stop wallowing in the trash.
ew IS trash. it’s a tabliod with a bit more credabilty then the other tabloids. yeah, i get that its the recession so you gotta sell them magazines some how, but alienating half of your readership in the process doesn’t seem to smart
dave would have been stupid not to have slept with a willing chick as hot as SB and we all know dave is not stupid. go Dave
You and Dave are the reason why most men are still perceived as scum.
While cute, Stephanie can hardly be called hot. Dave’s more attracted to personality, not looks.
Shame!
This guy is a sexual predator. He manipulated women who was under his supervision putting conditions. If they follow they stay. It’s obvious, what happens if they are not… He should be prosecuted and punished as regular sexual predators do. The law must be the same for all!
You are hilarious. Even if he was charged with sexual harrassment for violating company policy (which the company says he did not do) he would not go to jail. He’s not a sexual predator, she was well over the legal age of a consenting adult. Drama much?
Jan, it’s silly comments like yours that make all women look bad. You are making assumptions without any facts to support them.
Everybody needs to lay off Dave, what he did after the fact was admirable. He could have kept his mouth shut and nobody would have been the wiser. He could have waited until it came out in the National Enquirer to make a statement. Instead, he came out and told EVERYBODY, and apologized while doing it. Everything was consensual, he didn’t do anything illegal, what’s the big deal? I was a big fan before, I have more respect for him now.