Should I care about David Letterman's Monologue?

[Jenner]

I keep hearing about all this support and backlash he's getting and I'm just not sure... I've never been a big fan of him so I'm not sure if I should bother wasting 3-15 minutes of my life listening to him only to not care.

Should I bother?

Can someone give me the tl;dr version?

[ilovemyguitar]

TL;DR version: He had multiple affairs with people on his show's staff, somebody found out about it and threatened him with blackmail, there was sting set up involving a fake check for $2 million and the guy was caught, and Letterman admitted the whole thing on national TV so the tabloids wouldn't announce it first.

You may now return to not caring, as I did.

[phyco126]

Honestly, I don't care either. I like Letterman, but I haven't watched his show in years. As far as I am concerned, what he does personally should be private, and should it come public as this did, then people should just leave him alone.

[Aaron]

I think anyone in a public position who comments on current issues should definitely be held accountable for their actions. It would be unbelievably hypocritical if they weren't.

I don't think I have ever watched a full episode anyway. But he does present himself as a squeaky clean guy. If this doesn't tarnish his reputation then nothing will. And unfortunately I feel like because he came out and said it, he is going to be rewarded or at least not as harshly criticized as he should for cheating on his wife.

And those poor women, how many lives did he just ruin to cover his ass? How unbelievably selfish.

[Alunissage]

My two thoughts on seeing this thread:

1) Is this a poll?
2) What monologue?

That is all. I'm not one of your more au courant people.

[Werefrog]

Blackmail is such an ugly word. I prefer "extortion" because the "x" makes it sound sexy.

That Futurama quote was the first and only thought that I've had on this whole David Letterman affair.

[Jenner]

My two thoughts on seeing this thread:

1) Is this a poll?
2) What monologue?

That is all. I'm not one of your more au courant people.

No, it is not a poll. It was an honest question. And, I'm going to agree with Ardent Fox on this. He should have taken the blame and not named names. Having not watched it myself, I still think it's a dick move to be like: "Someone tried to blackmail me/Extort me for money with information they have about me. Here is his information, I am a filthy adulterous man-whore with name, name, name, name and name." By saying those names he's basically sent the media after those people as well as himself. Like Fox said, throwing them into the fire. I know they CHOSE to sleep with him, but I know from personal experience that a lot of women can feel pressured to do certain things by men in positions of authority, be it positional or emotional or otherwise, over them. Wealthy, popular men like Letterman have the power to all but end a woman's career in show business if you tread on their wrong side. The women still chose to sleep with him, but at that time, for most of them, it probably wasn't because they wanted to. Letterman just ruined their lives by throwing him to the dogs. I will not be surprised when Fox News hunts every one of these women down and hounds them until they kill themselves.

The right thing to do would have been like: "America, I chose to cheat on my wife. I cheated on my wife often with a lot of different people. I take full responsibility for my actions." No names named, no lives damned.

Jackass, if I watched his show I'd stop watching it.

Additionally:
A monologue is that point in any talk show where the host does nothing but speak for themselves, rather than making the usual jokes that are on the teleprompter or talking with the guest. Most shows don't have them so much anymore, it's all scripted. But, some show hosts can still opt to do one. Most notably, after George Carlin died almost every talk show host and show on Comedy Central did small monologues and tributes to Carlin. Same when Chris Farley died. For awhile, Conan O'Brien used to do all his silly little blurbs at the beginning of the show without a script. But, after his show actually started getting viewers he started scripting his jokes, and now, he only goes off script if the audience isn't finding the jokes funny. I hear he still writes a lot of his own stuff so maybe it still counts.

[phyco126]

I was under the impression that David Letterman didn't name names, that the media just started pointed fingers at every person he worked with that had a pair of tits (yes, even that guy with moobs).

[Kizyr]

There wouldn't be any reason not to name names, considering that it was obvious who'd tried to extort him. I mean, if you're going to press charges for extortion and work with the authorities on that, well, there's no point hiding the identity of the person you're pressing charges against.

Anyway, irrespective of his past actions, I think it was a ballsy move. That's the same thing I'd do if I were blackmailed: I air out my dirty laundry so that the would-be-blackmailer has no leverage.

I was always more of a Leno fan than a Letterman fan, but Letterman's all right. KF

[phyco126]

There wouldn't be any reason not to name names, considering that it was obvious who'd tried to extort him. I mean, if you're going to press charges for extortion and work with the authorities on that, well, there's no point hiding the identity of the person you're pressing charges against.

Anyway, irrespective of his past actions, I think it was a ballsy move. That's the same thing I'd do if I were blackmailed: I air out my dirty laundry so that the would-be-blackmailer has no leverage.

I was always more of a Leno fan than a Letterman fan, but Letterman's all right. KF

I'm the same way. Its like, giving the blackmailer a middle finger, a huge 'F-U', and then a good punch to the face. Well, I would really punch them in the face, laugh at them, then piss on them. Then kick some dirt into their face for good measure, all while saying "Black mail this, -Borgan-!"

[Sonic#]

There wouldn't be any reason not to name names, considering that it was obvious who'd tried to extort him. I mean, if you're going to press charges for extortion and work with the authorities on that, well, there's no point hiding the identity of the person you're pressing charges against.

Anyway, irrespective of his past actions, I think it was a ballsy move. That's the same thing I'd do if I were blackmailed: I air out my dirty laundry so that the would-be-blackmailer has no leverage.

I was always more of a Leno fan than a Letterman fan, but Letterman's all right. KF

I think it was on the one hand a shrewd move to go ahead and disarm the blackmailer. At the point when someone's blackmailing, then it's better to go ahead and prevent that wrong.

However, that doesn't change Letterman's infidelities. I think he's to be admired for the one action, but that doesn't alleviate his guilt. I hope that doesn't get forgotten.

[Jenner]

there's a difference between naming the person that tried to extort you, and naming the people you slept with.

But, like I said. I don't know if either happened. I'm just saying if the latter happens the man should get clubbed.

[Werefrog]

From my experience as a lawyer (that is, playing Phoenix Wright), I know that like 100% of extortion cases result in someone's murder. I think this story had the happiest ending it possibly could.

[Alunissage]

My two thoughts on seeing this thread:

1) Is this a poll?
2) What monologue?

That is all. I'm not one of your more au courant people.

No, it is not a poll. It was an honest question.

(...)

Additionally:
A monologue is (etc.)

Just to clarify, I meant that when I saw this thread in the "View New Posts" view I expected it to be a poll or something silly like that, because I hadn't heard about the David Letterman thing at all. Which is what my second thought was -- what Letterman monologue? I do know what a monologue is. :)

[Jenner]

From my experience as a lawyer (that is, playing Phoenix Wright), I know that like 100% of extortion cases result in someone's murder. I think this story had the happiest ending it possibly could.

No, this is the best result Phoenix Wright could have gotten.

Also, not enough Pearl Pedobait in this scenario.

Just to clarify, I meant that when I saw this thread in the "View New Posts" view I expected it to be a poll or something silly like that, because I hadn't heard about the David Letterman thing at all. Which is what my second thought was -- what Letterman monologue? I do know what a monologue is.

I know you know what a monologue is Alun, I was over evaluating your question to be a smartass. But yeah, basically I heard about the monologue when I was channel surfing and past Fox News as quickly as I could and Hannity was like "SHAME ON YOU LETTERMAN YOUR LITTLE MONOLOGUE DOES NOTHING" and then the channel switched and I felt dirty. But, I was filled with curiosity so I decided to ask here to see if I should care.

I am informed, and, I don't care. A win-win for me

[Ruby]

However, that doesn't change Letterman's infidelities. I think he's to be admired for the one action, but that doesn't alleviate his guilt. I hope that doesn't get forgotten.

What infidelities? All of this happened before he got married. The only really "bad" thing he, as far as we know currently, did was have relationships with his subordinates. Not exactly the smartest thing but not exactly something most of his viewership will bat an eye at.

[Sonic#]

However, that doesn't change Letterman's infidelities. I think he's to be admired for the one action, but that doesn't alleviate his guilt. I hope that doesn't get forgotten.

What infidelities? All of this happened before he got married. The only really "bad" thing he, as far as we know currently, did was have relationships with his subordinates. Not exactly the smartest thing but not exactly something most of his viewership will bat an eye at.

He was in a relationship with his future wife at the time he had at least some of the relationships with his subordinates. And it was a long-term relationship too, since it was over 20 years before they got married. I would call that as serious an infidelity as if he was her husband. Also note that he had to apologize to his wife as well as the viewers.

And, in the streak of independent thought that you seem to uphold, I'll bat an eye at it whether most of the viewers do or not.