Those that take issue with David Letterman mocking Bristol Palin need to hate the game, not the player.
Late-night talk shows exist for one reason: to make fun of those in the news.
Let's go back to 1995: One of Jay Leno's most famous skits was "The Dancing Itos." It was a comedy sketch that was based around lookalikes of those involved in the O.J. Simpson case, such as Judge Lance Ito.
Yes, Jay Leno made light of a double murder case. Not only was he never taken to task for it, audiences ate it up.
Meanwhile, just a few weeks ago, Conan O'Brien made this joke: "Sarah Palin is going to drop the first puck at the Philadelphia Flyers' hockey game. Then, Palin will spend the rest of the game trying to keep the players out of her daughter's penalty box."
That is FAR more offensive than anything Letterman said, as it uses a pejorative term for "vagina" and it doesn't mention Eliot Spitzer or Alex Rodriguez, the two men that were equally at the forefront of Dave's jabs.
But did Palin utter a word about it? Of course not. O'Brien only aired at 12:30 a.m. at the time. His ratings were puny.
Here's a way to kill a few hours: go search the Internet for jokes made at the expense of Jamie Lynn Spears and Miley Cyrus over the past couple of years on late-night television.
The point is simple: talk show hosts make fun of celebrities.
Bristol Palin is a celebrity; not because her mother ran for a political office, but because her mother approved of her appearance on the cover of People.
Sorry, but the moment Bristol's face appeared on the front of the world's leading tabloid, Gov. Palin could no longer claim that her family's private world was being invaded. She has chosen a public life for herself and her children and must live with it.
This is also why Palin's claim of a double standard does not hold any merit.
In her interview with Matt Lauer, the governor said everyone respects President Obama's pleas to leave his family alone, but the same standard does not hold for her.
This is a laughable comparison.
Sasha and Malia Obama are 7 and 10 years old, respectively. Let us assure any doubters out there: if either of them gets caught with a fake ID, drives drunk or gets pregnant as a teenager, every late-night host will be overflowing with jokes.
In the meantime, they are going to school every day and looking adorable. Mock away, comedians!
Overall, it's fine for Palin to mention in an interview that she thinks Letterman made an inappropriate reference. Dave himself has not denied this.
But - like she did with her reference to Barack Obama "paling around with terrorists," like she did with her reference to Democrats wanting to "wave the white flag of surrender" in Iraq - the governor has stepped overboard.
Sarah Palin simply isn't articulate or intelligent enough to make a coherent point.
Therefore, she resorts to attention-grabbing words and implications; in this case, actually impugning David Letterman for being a pedophile or a rapist.
Letterman would be the first to say that he isn't a saint. He's a comedian that sometimes makes distasteful jokes for the sake of a laugh. Like ALL comedians do.
Question his standards sometimes, Governor Palin and supporters, but also check his record. Never, over the course of a 27-year career, has he been accused of anything resembling the charges you've drummed up.
However, days after 9/11, he delivered as heartfelt a tribute as anyone on television mustered at the tragic time.
We don't mean to exploit it, but it's stuck with us for years and it's well worth viewing. It's appalling that Sarah Palin would take a few words uttered by a clearly thoughtful, compassionate man - one that has entertained millions for decades with his brand of humor, whether she wishes to respect that or not - and turn them into such an ugly incident, all in the name of fortifying her political base.
Then again, it's also not unexpected.
Whose side are you on!?
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17 Comments
June 15th, 2009 11:15 AM
Part of the reason for lack of backlash against conan is no one watches to have heard it. It was offensive. Sorry, but there is a double standard and if you are unbiased in reading & listening, you will hear it. No bashing should be done of young people at all. I think media liberties have reached the point of insane and needs to either police itself before a backlast occurs to do it for them. ENOUGH!!
June 15th, 2009 1:57 PM
Sorry wrong is wrong, no matter who said it at what time etc...
Come off your high horse and look at this with some common sense, (if there is any left in America today?), He made rude and crude comments towards women no matter who they are. Does th ebehavior of the women or young ladies matter that they were made...NO. The high court when asked to define pornography they said "...when they see it they know..." Come on no matter who Palins are no one deserves to have they children mocked about knocked up slutty flight attendans...man poor taste and bad jokes as David said, and if he would just say: "On reflection, I guess I understand why Palins are upset, sexual inuenndos about women in an age when so much sexual viloence exists against young girls, and women everywhere, well, my writers should have passed on this one"
June 15th, 2009 2:25 PM
One of the first things you learn in broadcasting, if you say something out of line...hope that no one heard that might be offended and report it to the FCC. If a tree falls in the woods and no one sees or hears it, no foul, which could be the case over Conan's statement.
As for Dave, his comment was directly about a daughter of Gov. Palin. A comment that when asserted to the younger daughter, under age, brings direct correlation to statutory rape, like it or not. His denial the next night that his comments were not directed at Willow (14), but were directed at Bristol (18) is still offensive. And the fact that Letterman did not know which daughter was in New York is a unfortunate landmine of the business. As a captain of the ship, he cannot blame his writers.
The tree has fallen a sizeable enough audience heard it and are complaining about it as being offensive. Whetehr the FCC fines CBS or it's affliates is yet to be seen, probably not, but the court of public opinion need not reach a majority, just as ratings seldom reach a majority level of audience share.
What you exemplify in your article's long list of examples are situations dealing with adults, this one dealt with a child (unbeknown to Letterman), a female, and involved a sexual act that no one should be joked about. This type of misogynist behavior, whether humor or not, is out of line on broadcast television. Past deeds are not an excuse to exonerate Letterman from letting this tree fall on the front row of his audience.
June 15th, 2009 2:40 PM
So the joke was made about one of Sarah's kids having sex with someone more than twice her age. So if you think that's all right we should be able to joke about Malia having sex with a 20 year old. Or will you change the rules? Because I've got a great finger banging joke coming up.
June 15th, 2009 2:48 PM
Does anyone actually take David Letterman seriously ?
Or that matter any other comedian became talk show host?
June 15th, 2009 3:09 PM
This is really getting ridiculous...So Letterman made a joke and feelings were hurt..no permanent damage was done!! This article is right once Sarah Palin had her daughter on PEOPLE magazine she should have expected some negative responses from it....and let me just clarify: IF one of Obama's daughters became pregnant during the election at Bristol's age it would have been a bloodbath! We forget all the comments that Palin made about Obama the ENTIRE election but now Palin is upset about a joke...Bristol Palin should have never been on People in the first place...it's like receiving a medal for murdering someone. SHE GOT KNOCKED UP and I can probably name about 10 girls that I went to high school with who DIDN'T get a spread in PEOPLE for getting pregnant..LETTERMAN IS A COMEDIAN!!! He makes jokes about people.....SO if he wants to make a joke at Bristol Palin's expense WHY NOT?? it didn't do anymore damage than she did to herself and since it DIDN'T people should get over it..or is a joke at someone else's expense only funny when you don't like that person??????
June 15th, 2009 3:53 PM
Actually, "jessie"...your attempts at reasoning fall short of the point. Letterman's comments where made with out clarification of which daughter and the age fo the daughter that was with Gov. Palin was 14. The statements from Letterman, whether or not it was a joke of not, constitutes a flagrant statement that mocked a female being impregnated, and unfortunately for Letterman, teh context of his joke was directly in relation to a daughter traveling with Gov. Palin in New York.
I watched it in disbelief and wondered, I know he probably means Bristol, but does he not realize that it was the 14 year old that was with Gov. Palin. In setting up the joke, he direct reference to Gov. Palin being in New York and drew directly upon her and her party accompanying her to the game.
It is not that someone got there feelings hurt, feelings on the part of Gov. Palin have nothing to do with it. The statement about being knocked up in context with Gov. Palin's visit leaves only one daughter, the 14 year old as the brunt of Letterman's joke, which leaves him in a corner and no way out, except for the lame apologies and excuses coming from him and you for projecting an image of a 14 year old being "knocked up" on the public airwaves of this country, which are not owned by Letterman or CBS or it's affiliates.
All politics and hate aside, are you not able to except that Letterman screwed up, the girl, whether intended or not, is under age and not a part of any so called publicity machine that you and others wish to joke, malign, or otherwise disparage.
June 15th, 2009 5:11 PM
Letterman's pitiful words and the hate from those who condone them are undefendable. Have you sunk so low that you can only feel worthwhile when trying to drag someone else down to your level? Is there no one of you with the courage to say this is wrong? The more you talk, the less you become.
June 15th, 2009 7:41 PM
Clearly, Letterman screwed up. He crossed the line. But he also acknowledged his mistake and apologized for it. What else does Palin want?
Letterman may have gone too far in targeting Palin's daughter, yet the fact remains that political figures have to be willing to accept the brunt of jokes, etc.
I'm not condoning inappropriate comments about minors, but I am saying that Palin needs to recognize that its a two-way street. If she wants other comedians to refrain from making further comments about her life and her children, then perhaps she should keep her daughter off the cover of People as well.
June 15th, 2009 8:29 PM
Comedians are in business for one reason: to get laughs. I see the points being made of the dancing Itos, other celebrities who have been mocked and other comedians who have mocked Sarah Palin and her family not getting the grief that David Letterman is getting. But there is a serious political dynamic at play here that has elevated the joke making beyond the level of just good fun. There is a real agenda to use the mocking of Sarah Palin to destroy her.
David Letterman getting laughs at Sarah Palin's expense is not about getting laughs. It's about eliminating her voice. In a free country, it's very dangerous when the media and pop culture align themselves to silence a voice.
This is not about what David Letterman said just for the sake of being outraged by it as an isolated set of jokes that are in bad taste. This is a boiling kettle that has been brewing since the Democrat party sent lawyers and David Axelrod bloggers after Sarah Palin when she was first nominated for VP in an effort to discredit her.
Sarah Palin has been the subject of a vicious left wing attack that is designed and organized to prevent her from becoming president in 2012. The ridicule and vitriole being spewed on the web is not just coming from a bunch of people who think she makes the good brunt of a joke.
David Letterman's obsession with her coupled with the fact that he has become more and more political ran collided with an effort by an army of Sarah Palin supporters who were just pulling their hair out trying to stop an organized deliberate movement designed to outright destroy this woman.
I already know from the inside that neutralizing the smears against Palin and overcoming the media's brainwashing of America into believing false caricatures of her has been an agenda of the pro-Palin movement since the smears unexplainedly continued after the election, an election that should have been put behind us given the fact she lost.
When David Letterman cracked his jokes and Sarah Palin herself went on NBC and CNN to attack him, her supporters no longer had to pull their hair out to try to stop the destruction being perpetrated against her. Their leader had spoken and the frustration at those who were deliberately trying to ruin her life were turned into a battle cry that Palin supporters saw as major victory in turning the corner on the Palin destruction movement. David Letterman was in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong jokes.
The smears against and the jokes made at the expense of Sarah Palin are not going to stop. The goal here was not to silence those who were opposed to her. The goal here was to get the average citizen to recognize that the media and pop culture have been lying to them for a reason. That has been accomplished.
If more people now realize that they have to do their own research and re-start from scratch in building their opinions of Sarah Palin because they now know the information they have gotten from the media and pop culture is all wrong, than I consider what Sarah Palin and her supporters did last week to be a success.
Whether you come to your own conclusions for or against Sarah Palin, I hope the slamming of David Letterman teaches you one thing as a citizen: do your own research and draw your own conclusions instead of relying on those who have an agenda in the media and pop culture.
Go ahead and make jokes about Sarah Palin or whoever you want to if you are doing it for laughs. But if you are trying to destroy a movement or a family with your humor, leave it home. I like my comedy to be well intentioned.