Viewer Reaction Split on Letterman News

TV Host's Revelation of Affairs Met With Sympathy, Disgust as Likeability Thrown in Jeopardy

(AP)  Will David Letterman's very public revelation of a new, very human flaw bring him closer to viewers, or will it cloud him in cliche showbiz debauchery?

That was the question many were debating Friday, the day after the CBS "Late Show" host revealed to his audience that he had sexual relationships with female employees and had been the victim of an extortion attempt to keep that information private.

Letterman unraveled the sordid story with humor, honesty and self-effacement. He may have endeared himself to some fans, but his likeability has been thrown into jeopardy. Reaction poured in Friday, including from other late-night hosts.

During a taping of NBC's "Late Night," Jimmy Fallon worked it into his monologue: "A new book called `Why Women Have Sex' says there are 237 reasons why women have sex and Letterman knows the top 10."

Friday night's "Late Show" was taped Thursday, as was Craig Ferguson's "Late Show." (Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" are dark on Fridays.)

That left Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel.

In the comments sections of YouTube videos of Letterman's confession, the dialogue was two-sided as some came to Letterman's defense, while others were critical. Similar lines were drawn on Twitter, where Letterman was one of the most tweeted-about subjects. He evoked both sympathy and disgust, as he did in comments posted in blogs and on social networks.

Watch Letterman's remarks
Photos: David Letterman

Referring to Thursday's studio audience, which laughed through parts of Letterman's somewhat comical telling of the story, New York Times columnist David Carr tweeted: "Aw, now Letterman is his own punchline. Yuck."

A running Internet joke seen on sites such as YouTube and Facebook involved a pun on the name of Letterman's production company, World Wide Pants Inc.

On YouTube, videos of different woman who have worked on-air at the "Late Show" were circulating. Most were of Stephanie Birkitt, the sometimes on-air assistant who lived in Norwalk, Conn., with the alleged extortionist, Robert J. "Joe" Halderman, a producer for the true-crime show "48 Hours."

For several years, Birkitt regularly appeared on the "Late Show," often aiding Letterman in his audience interactions. Videos of her cameos circulated widely as the Web sought glimpses of her.

Ben McConnell, a marketing expert and author, blogged that Letterman had gotten in front of the story "in this Twitter-driven world." He wrote: "Letterman has certainly neutralized far worse rumor-mongering that could have quickly spiraled, jeopardizing his reputation, maybe even his job."

Like many blogs, Gawker.com was trolling through "Late Show" archives to find evidence of hypocrisy in Letterman's various jokes about infidelity through the years. Gawker wrote that the 62-year-old host was "haunted by the ghosts of Monica Lewinsky jokes past" and linked to old videos and top 10 lists of the "Late Show."

Other sleuthing was going on, too, as those following the sordid story looked for information on the less famous players involved. Halderman's Facebook page (which features a photo of him lounging in an Adirondack chair) had its personal information deleted.

[uvcf23]

Ok. Done with Letterman. Not just this scandal but, all the ******** with this guy. Please! The old glasses, tie, white socks! He was old before he was old. Anyway, what desparate co-worker would WANT to be this this old/middle aged/young *******! Do we really care about a so called, "scandal" with this dude???? He wouldn't even reveal his girlfriend/wife with the public before all of this ****. What's wrong with her too?? What's the BFD?? He's no Jay or Conan or even Jimmy Fallon. Skip the apolozies, old man. Even my 80 year old father thinks you're too old!! Ha!!

[hahajokeonyou]

This is halarious! It's more fun reading the comments then it would be ever watching the Letterman show. He made easy big bucks doing non-funny jokes about people which were at some unfortunate situations.

Now for all those that think he is "honest" about his admissions, what honest man would wait to tell someone near and dear to him about his sneaky thrills he done ONLY after he is going to be exposed? Get him OFF the air!...get some real talent on!

Oh what about those that think that it's not our job to be judgemental....whenever one makes that comment about such is also judgemental, ...you want to be non-judgemental and it being not our job then stay OFF such comment boards. Do you get to understand your own words? "we are all human". boo hoo hoo what the heck is this about? "keep his family out of it"?? Does he spare the families of the ones he made jokes about? Leave it be, let karma bite him.

[vermont9]

Sexual harassment is when during but usually after the alleged affair, the woman is scared she will lose her job or is treated in a mean spirited way... creating a hostel work enviroment..has that happened here?

[Md392]

What do you want. The man had affairs while he was unmarried. At least he is HONEST and admits it. Don't pass judgement it's not your job. He's trying to get his life back, leave him alone. I'm sure he doesn't mind the jokes as long as they keep his family out of it. He's human!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[missheidi]

What a hypocrite! No wonder dirty old Dave was obsessed about talking about Palin's daughter being with an older man; he was getting his jollies, because he was doing the same thing.

[theyarealltaken]

hey all, i love dave. still love dave even tho 'gasp' he's had sex. although it's a bit dodgy having sex with staffers, he's just going to have to hunker down and take the investigation, criticism and jokes from his peers. but hey, dave can dish it out and i KNOW DAVE CAN TAKE it. this is going to be late night fodder for weeks! BRAVO to dave for going to the police and doing the right thing. he could have paid to keep this silent and faced worse consenquences later.

i support dave and will continue to watch him EVERY NIGHT. love you dave!!

[liselle3]

I don't get why this is any of our business... Who cares! Seems to me the only people who should care are Letterman's family. What a nosy nation!

[kphx]

Who cares. May be all the females in your family, if they ever go to work somewhere, should go and work exclusively for people like this creep letterman. It is none of anybody's business.

[runningralph]

Letterman's whole act is to show what outrageous fools everyone is and he just grins and points his finger. He has had dalliances with several women at CBS and even married one of them. My question is: has he ever had affairs with women that didn't work for him? I doubt it. That would take time, effort and money. Why do all that when he has outrageous fools working for him? That would be like buying a cow when milk is cheap.

[rocketjl]

I hear all the pro and con about your/their side of 'whatever'. I think 'they' are just people or 'he' would have said nothing on the air, knowing the girls would have their turn later.

Me, I want to know what 'Sara Palin' wants to say.

Good for the goose and gander, thing.

Letterman is bulletproof. Degrade Palin daughter, no problem for CBS; have sex with CBS employees, no problem for CBS. I think he could kill someone and it would be no problem for CBS. This clown needs to go. Posted by Baileyccc

[kphx]

I agree with you my friend. It just shows what is in a days work at CBS shops and the kind of workplace ethics they have. May be it is time to boycott CBS, both local and national ?, not just the creep letterman's show and his sponsors ???

[KC82]

I think the whole thing is all Karma!!! He has said some bad things about people and some had not deserved any of it, they just simply were a joke. I think he should have to pay Joe Holderman simply because of Dave makeing money on the jokes he was making on others while doing it himself. I wonder if Palin or Bush paid the women to sleep with you? I use to love your show but over the last year or so I wish they would yank you off the air or swap you with Craig Ferguson he is ten times funnier and is'nt an idiot! DAVE IS A DRYED UP OLD DISH TOWL, you know what to do with a old towel. silly liberals

[wfw3536]

Well I guess Sarah Palin was right that Dave Letterman is a dirty old man. Not only do teenagers need to be afraid of him, but also those women who work for him. It is sad when he has so little respect for women. I feel sorry for his new wife and 5 year old that he shows such little respect for them.

I can't believe CBS keeps Letterman when he is such a hypocrite to critize and make jokes of others when he is a low life and shouldn't be on TV.

[SHEETPAN]

Lettermans not funny anymore.

[nobiomo]

do not judge dave letterman until all the facts are known

[GinBlue]

This is late night TV... not Sesame Street.
Watch SNL tonight to see what is acceptable on late night TV.
Dave is a comedian, not a role model.
I need him there to entertain me.

The only people complaining here are Palin fans and Conan fans.

[SamTCat]

I only sleep about 5 to 6 hours every night, so even as a teen I used to watch Letterman until I discovered the genius that is Ted Koppel on Nightline. After he got squeezed out by ABC (BOO!) and replaced with that ridiculous Martin Bashir, I started watching late-night comedy again and I didn't find Letterman as funny any more. I could swear he'd changed and was only sort of playing the part of the dorky guy as opposed to really being a dorky guy, and started watching Leno instead.

But ever since Conan came on, I was kind of watching both Conan and Letterman, depending on who the guest was. Because I DO watch late night tv t be entertained, and there's a difference between a guy who makes headlines for falling on his butt trying to tie Terri Hatcher in a silly skit race and a guy who makes headlines for being a pervy self-entitled hypocrite.

Too heavy and too icky. But who knows maybe people already kind of picked up on that ickiness in Dave and the ones who stayed never minded, and maybe he'll just lose the fairweather viewers like me who are still getting used to Conan in place of Jay.

[SamTCat]

I don't think Letterman's disclosure was that honest at all, so much as it was calculated - it's like he was advised that if he kept emphasizing how "terrible" he had been, then when the truth came out people would think that gosh it wasn't that bad after all.

Except the issue isn't "terrible"-ness so much as it is how different the disclosure makes him seem from the public persona he's cultivated on tv all these years, isn't it? He's kind of made himself out to be this dorky, boring suburban schlub who's been dating that same comedian for 25 years, one who's never bought into the glamorous high life even with his gazillions, so therefore he's just like the rest of us who can't relate to all these people positions of power he's been making fun of all these years for their sex scandals and other moral failings.

And then it turns out he's been the pot calling the kettle black all these years. He didn't address the hypocrisy at all, which is what's so disgusting to people - the shock of the hypocrisy. This chick comes across as a bit of a bimbo, going from lowly intern to getting on tv and being able to have paid-for trips to the Olympics by boinking gross older men. And what's worse, she was TERRIBLE on tv - boring, no charisma, not even that beautiful.

To have missed the hypocrisy angle - like are the PR people who have been advising Letterman maybe just like him, you know like rich, slightly arrogant, feel entitled, etc? It's like how when Martha Stewart got in trouble for trying to cover up her inside trading, she went and hired that attorney that was just as arrogant as her when her biggest problem was that she was seen as arrogant, and they weren't able to help her at all.

Speaking as just a 'regular person', since Dave's image was that of a 'regular person' if he wants people to not see him differently because of this personal disclosure, I think he needs to make sense of this for people - how could he stand there and make fun of peoples' hypocrisy with such contempt when he was acting the exact same way? I don't know if there's any 'right' answer for that, but when somebody's TRULY honest people will know it. Maybe Dave'll get a slight bounce out of the scandal as people turn in to see how his jokes change after this disclosure. But with such a big change in public perception is there any way this disclosure isn't going to have an impact over the long-haul, and not for the better without TRULY addressing it head on?

I can't be the only one who's feeling like they might not be able to watch like nothing's changed.

[johnpatrick1]

Perhaps if more Americans had a semblence of a sexual/sensual life they would not be so concerned and jealous of another individual having one. This is a nation of hypocrites using vulgarized sex to sell products, watching porno and being tiltilated by the perceived lives of others...a tiresome land of infantile adults with their hats on backwards. Grow up...what happens between two consenting adults is none of your business...just be sure to have a safety word like:"Ouch! That hurt!"

[johnpatrick1]

Perhaps if more Americans had a semblence of a sexual/sensual life they would not be so concerned and jealous of another individual having one. This is a nation of hypocrites using vulgarized sex to sell products, watching porno and being tiltilated by the perceived lives of others...a tiresome land of infantile adults with their hats on backwards. Grow up...what happens between two consenting adults is none of your business...just be sure to have a safety word like:"Ouch! That hurt!"

[stupa3]

Typical religous right neocon response with an unhappy sexlife!

Letterman is a creep and a letch. He is a haughty, pretentious,self-promoting jerk. No one should be surprised by his attitude or behavior. He should be fired and banished for good.