Palin v. Letterman conclusion?

I have tried to avoid discussing this “spat” for a while, including on commenting on it on other blogs and websites, simply since I held the position that jokes naturally offend someone. If you listen to any monologue by David Letterman, Jay Leno, or even Johnny Carson, you will find them poking fun at an individual or group. Sometimes the jokes cross the line of the level of harsh humor, but it still meant as humor for the general viewing audience. The joke in question is as follows:

One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game … during the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.

While Letterman says he was referencing Bristol Palin, the 18-year old daughter of Sarah Palin that was pregnant out of wedlock to Levi Johnston. However, it was the governors’ 14-year old daughter Willow that was with her at the game. Following the initial negative response to the joke, Letterman issued an apology that some thought was a joke in its own right. The comment was:

Now they’re upset with me. Let me read to you how upset they are because I didn’t realize this… Keep in mind. I can’t really defend these. They’re just jokes… Some jokes are fine, some jokes are not fine, and of course we make mistakes left and right… I’m telling ya, I recognize that these are ugly. These are actually ugly. These are borderline but again in an act of desperation to get cheap laughs, which is what I’ve been doing for the last 30 years, why didn’t we hear from Alex Rodriguez?

Summing up now, and I’m going to ask questions and then answer them. Were the jokes in question in questionable taste? Of course they were. Do I regret having told them? Well I think probably I do, but you know what? There are thousands of jokes I regret telling on this program.

The light-heartedness of the apology was viewed as just more jokes towards the Palin’s and less about the implication of underage sex, even though Letterman stated numerous times during his apology that he would never advocate such activity. Noticing that the apology wasn’t received, and with the national attention on the debate was growing, Letterman issued another apology during his show.

Now I’m beginning to understand what the problem is here. It’s the perception rather than the intent. It doesn’t make any difference what my intent was, it’s the perception. And as they say about jokes, if you have to explain the joke, it’s not a very good joke. Well, my responsibility, I take full blame for that. I told a bad joke. I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception. And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke. It’s not your fault that it was misunderstood, it’s my fault that it was misunderstood. So I would like to apologize, especially for the two daughters involved – Bristol and Willow – and also to the Governor and her family, and everybody else who was outraged by the joke. I’m sorry about it and I’ll try to do better in the future.

The Palin’s have accepted the apology, so the debate should be over, right? Unfortunately not. There was a large protest against Letterman and CBS today over the joke and the lack of response by CBS on the issue. Additionally, a “Fire Letterman” website and organization has been created. In the debate, there are comparisons between the comment made by Letterman and the one by Don Imus (that resulted in him losing his job).

I just want to say right now that I was against the firing of Don Imus, and I would be against the firing of David Letterman. When you do a live show, you are bound to say something that is overly offensive. If this is the first time for the degree of offense (such as Don’s comment of “nappy-headed hoes” or Dave’s “knocked-up” joke), an on air apology should suffice, or maybe there could be a week’s suspension. If the joke becomes a pattern, then definitely they should be terminated since it is creating a hostile environment while creating a bad reputation for the company. Let’s accept Letterman’s second (and sincere) apology at face value and start diverting the media coverage to more important topics, such as the Iranian Presidential election fall-out.

Related articles:
FOX News – “Rev. Sharpton on Letterman Controversy”
WLOS TV – “Apology not enough for anti-Letterman protesters”
Time – “The Morning After: Letterman  Is It Over?”
NY Daily News – “Why we couldn’t tune out the Sarah Palin-David Letterman feud”
The Huffington Post – “What Now?”
FOX News – “Andrea Tantaros: The Latest Media Blood Sport - Attacking Conservative Women”
The Christian Science Monitor – “After Letterman apology, what next for Palin?”
St. Petersburg Times – “Finally, David Letterman delivers the right apology for Palin jokes”
FOX News – “David Letterman Slammed For Sex Jokes About Palin’s Teen Daughter”
Culture and Media Institute – “Today Show Defends Letterman’s ‘Joke’”
OpEd News – “The Letterman Joke deception, Smears and Cynicism of Sarah Palin”