Letterman Extortion Focus Ignores His Sexual Misconduct

I know this is apparently the biggest news story of the year, but is it really such the crime against humanity as it's been implied? David Letterman was allegedly approached by the ex-boyfriend of one of his staffers who demanded $2M to keep silent about his past sexual relationship with her. So Letterman "revealed" that he's had sex with numerous women who work for him and that gets swept under the rug. Can you say Fall Guy?

Considering the fact Letterman had briefly mentioned how he almost got "fired" during the Madonna interview a few days ago I think it's very interesting indeed how male privilege and white protectionism kicks in during certain times. Letterman was referring to the Palin incident when he thought he could drag her daughters into his criticism of her and got the smackdown of his life. It has still had a profound effect on him since he obviously thought he could publicly degrade white womanhood but found out otherwise.

What I now find very interesting is how used he is to degrading them in his personal life. Or should I say professional life. No wonder he was surprised. Look what he's been allowed to get away with for the better part of nearly three decades? He has a history of "dating" the women who work for him. What male boss is allowed to troll for dates and girlfriends from his pool of employees without violating some laws?

His current wife is a former staffer in fact. I think there's something in the CBS water because isn't the head of the network married to one of his staffers as well? (Les Moonves and Julie Chen). The fact that Letterman owns his show yet is so intimately involved with staff under employment contracts with the network - owned by Viacom speaks volumes about what guidelines are supposed to be in place to protect women as opposed to what actually goes on.

Whether these women enter into relationships "willingly" isn't the point. Remember when Bill O'Reilly was busted for sexing one of his female producers, had abusive conversations caught on tape and Fox had to make a multi-million dollar payout? It also seems to me there must be some serious employment discrimination going on whereby certain women are hired to begin with. There's the question of diversity - or really the lack of - when the women chosen have similar backgrounds. It's one thing for a savvy woman to position herself to have access to a powerful man. It's something else entirely when part of the unspoken job description involves giving sexual favors and attention to one.

I'm So Used To Black Women Being Dissed I Almost Missed the Lesson!

For yesterday's post I wrote with a certain amount or irony how the virtue of white women was reinforced by Letterman’s very public chastisement and remains as viable as ever. Even he was bewildered about what happened. I wasn't defending what he'd said I was just surprised by the backlash. I’m certain he’s got the message now! (Bill Maher – you’re next!!) He may have thought he was just being harsh on the Palin family but what he failed to understand is that he unleashed the battle cry for a war against other white men over the continued domination of the “white” race.

White women and girls are to be protected at all costs.

I admit I hadn’t quite comprehended the full ramifications of this. As an African American woman I tend to think in historic terms of the relationship between the two and how patriarchy was reinforced during and after slavery. In other words I’ve had visions of Scarlett O’Hara dancing in my head….and I’ve wanted to take a mallet to that image. I’m certain I’m not the only one that would like to see certain things dismantled. I’ve written my share of posts were I’ve lamented ruefully how white women were being put on a pedestal because it was so painfully obvious to me that Black women were not.

I get it now.

Excerpted comment from Evia: 

Letterman had the audacity to attack a ww and her children, so other wm QUICKLY put him in his place. This sends a powerful message to OTHER wm of all ages who may be thinking about denigrating a ww publicly--to NEVER do that and if they do, they're going to be very sorry. This is why Letterman is blathering apologies all over the place. Unbeknownst to lots of AAs, many wm see plenty of faults and flaws among ww, but they understand that when you degrade your women en masse PUBLICLY, your WHOLE group is headed for destruction.

See Black women wouldn’t know what being protected is like because we're being attacked every day by other people who look like us or share a more recent lineage as well as by those that don't. They either don’t want to be part of the tribe or want to thoroughly bash it. Just so that we’re clear I’m speaking about the collective. I know there are plenty of individual situations where this is not the case.

This is why DL Idiot was allowed to go on Leno and call other Black women ugly and say he agreed with Imus. It was why Imus felt free to make such a comment in the first place. It’s why the would-be rapper Asher Roth revisited that “joke” on Twitter and couldn’t understand the angry response. It's why the denigration in "our" music will continue to lead us on the straight path to hell. It's why Nancy Grace rarely does a story on missing and exploited Black females. It's why so many women are self-medicating ourselves into an early grave. It's why many of us can't walk down the street in certain neighborhoods without being verbally assaulted with the underlying threat of physical harm. It’s also why I’m going to hear a lot of excuses from some Black men who read this post, but that the most virulent denials and objections are going to come from….cue the lights: other Black women.

We don’t know what it’s like being protected and held in such high regard.

It’s like tasting really fresh vegetables for the first time. We didn’t know it could be so good. So something must be “wrong” with it then! No, it’s just the way things are SUPPOSED TO BE!

Letterman may have thought he was deriding one woman politically and socially while being willing to use her offspring to do it. This is a teachable moment for all of us that even that ONE INCIDENT was NOT TOLERATED because it would CHIP AWAY AT THE COLLECTIVE leaving it in a WEAKENED STATE. So next time someone wants to make an excuse about how a song referring to a Black woman as a BITCH is “just a song” or “about a particular kind of woman” let’s look at this situation and compare how other white men stepped in protect their women (even if they can’t stand some of them) from one of their own. If they hadn't it would've been the start of a very slippery slope indeed.

If Letterman had been allowed to continue without pause it would have signaled it was okay for other men that it was open season. One incident multiplies, accelerates and mutates in ways you cannot control after a while. It goes from "hoes" to "no dark butts" to "why can't I talk about my preference for light-skinned women" to "I don't want to be Black" to "I want to stick my *ick in you" to "raping you is no big deal...it's the white man's fault anyway" to bye-bye collective.

Now that I’ve learned this lesson I have to ask: when are Black women going to get their respect and protection from Black men? 

White Woman Virtue Intact As Letterman Forced to Eat His Words

Wow there is some serious animus going on. I totally missed the David Letterman controversy because I was off doing other things. Apparently he insulted Alex Rodriquez by suggesting that he'd be interested in one of Sarah Palin's daughters. Actually he made a joke about her getting knocked-up at the Yankees game. Was the joke tasteless? Yes. Did it deserve the level of outrage that has gone on for four days? That's debatable. 

Clearly Letterman has no love for Sarah Palin and I would've thought it best to leave any children out of it - except for the fact that she's pimped out her own kids and "superior" moral virtue. I figure if you don't feed the gremlins they won't grow, but leave it to their PR machine to kick in. By the way, Letterman's joking is all President Obama's fault!

Now Letterman has apologized because some advertisers pulled out. He owns his show so he can pretty much do what he wants but I'm surprised by the level of vitriol on both sides and the undercurrent of hostility which has everything to do with the declining influence of the Republican Party. 

So I'm not going to talk about free speech or how the Palins are using this to their advantage because we already know this! I almost feel sorry for Dave except he's a very wealthy white man and will be fine. He's just butted heads with the great big Right Wing machine - which he's been doing for some time now. So this is kind of like two titans fighting it out. 

The hypocrisy occurs of course because of the attention that's been given this as if it was a SERIOUS ISSUE!! when Fox, MSNBC, CNN and plenty of other newspapers and media spread their lies and vile hate speech EVERY SINGLE DAY and it's ok when THEY do it. This doesn't even compare. My only advice to Dave is that he should remember that white womanhood is a sacred thing to many that they will defend regardless if it is Sarah Palin or her daughters. 

Will Smith on Letterman

This interview was so funny (the 2nd half was the best part). I like the insight into Will Smith's family life and career. How much was improv and how much did they discuss pre-interview? It's nice to see such a positive exchange. No hints about the movie because it will give away the plot - but Seven Pounds was GREAT!!!!

Letterman Top 10 Least Favorite Holiday Songs

This Letterman episode was funny. The Will Smith interview was hilarious!