I normally do not include in my blogs the names of specific individuals but rather I try to write about general issues. This week, I am making an exception. I was so angered by the comment that David Letterman included in his monologue about Sarah Palin’s daughter that I just can’t sit back and let it go.
For those of you who may have missed this, Palin was in New York with her 14 year old daughter, Willow. The following is the “joke” that he included in his monologue which I have quoted below:
“One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game, during the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.”
I can’t begin to imagine what would inspire a man of his age and stature to include such a comment in his thoughts let alone his presentation. It would have been bad enough if he had made such a remark as an ad lib but he planned this. He wrote it in advance and he had no qualms about including it in his show. And not only did he laugh but he had a whole audience that laughed, too.
I understand that entertainers are doing whatever they can to get ratings and I am sure that creating a controversy like this has certainly put Letterman in the limelight. But if he thinks that this type of humor is going to increase his viewership, I certainly hope that he is terribly wrong. To insinuate that someone raping a 14 year old girl is funny under any circumstances is just downright horrible to me.
I don’t have a daughter but I can’t begin to imagine what it would be like for me if someone made such a comment about my daughter on a personal level let alone in front of the whole country. We all know that there are so many people out there who think that it is okay to abuse young children in this manner and to have a comedian make that comment and laugh about it on national television only spurs on such deviant behavior.
I don’t know about anyone else out there who may read this blog but I will NEVER watch David Letterman again and I hope that you will join me in this action. Too many of us have suffered abuse in our lives in many different forms and the idea of thinking that putting out the image of an adult male sexually exploiting a young female as something that is funny is unbelievable. I can only assume that he lives in such a little bubble that he doesn’t even consider what the ramifications are for those girls who have suffered such abuse in their lives.
To all of my friends who are working so hard to help end abuse, I beg you to keep up the wonderful work that you are doing to help those who have turned to you for help. I also hope that you will take this opportunity to let others know that it is never okay to suggest in any way that child abuse is acceptable let alone something about which jokes should be made.
I would love your comments.
Well I too was very angered by this comment. I do not think anyone should stand with those Davie boy comments. He was wrong…he read it or wrote it or what ever… he did it. We can not sit by and let these kinds of comments live. I was also outraged at how the auidence laughed at Dave’s comments and it sickened me to think anyone would think this was worthy of a laugh. Anyway, I am happy to see others understand how words can hurt us all. Thanks for the blog.
Thank you so very much for sharing your thoughts. I could not believe that anyone would laugh at that. And even worse, there were plenty of people who were willing to defend him in the name of “entertainment”. What a shame!
It angered me very much! and NO I wont watch him again either. Im glad you spoke of this! He was soooooooooooo in the wrong!!!!
Things are getting so twisted in our media. Its almost scary.
Anyways, just wanted you to know that you are not alone on your thoughts! Sometimes with some of the things I hear on TV nowadays, I just shake my head in total disbelief!!!! Then I pray for them
But, yea, Im done with Letterman…..he cooked his goose this time.
hugs,
Michelle
I never liked him to start off, this joke was sick. He is a very rude person.
Barbara,
I am sorry you were watching David Letterman. I usually don’t write criticism of comedians and actors on television since I promote them in my Myspace ModelsActresses site.
David Letterman is NOT a comedian. His abilities as a talk show host are limited and the people who listen to him are usually of like kind. People who would laugh at this statement don’t know good humour and are not intelligent enough to be counted in the ratings.
I was not a Sarah Palin fan and not a Republican. I was for Hillary Clinton and then Barack Obama. Her reaction to it on
television was equally exploitive. She has used her children in
her campaign to promote her conservative agenda, but her children don’t deserve to be placed in this horrific situation by any of the adults.
What’s worse is American Idol where young people are humiliated in front of the world for being untalented. These
people are known to be poor performers before hand and they are put up for humiliation by four adults who should know better. Television doesn’t provide the moral value to our culture that it should and I agree with you that watching
Letterman now would be an even more silly waste of time than it would have been before he showed is ignorance of
young people’s feelings. Thanks for this beautifully written
blog.
Careyann
Going off topic here, but I must respond.
Uhhh… Careyann… The people on American Idol are not put up there by anyone. They choose to audition for the show and put themselves out there to be judged.
I don’t watch the show because I hate formulaic pop music (and that seems to be mostly what the show is about), but from what I can tell, most of them are adults, not small children. If there are some that are under 18, certainly they have to have parental permission to be on the show, therefore if anyone is to blame for their humiliation, it would be their parents, especially if they have no talent at all. I would not allow a child of mine to compete in something where I knew that they would be humiliated because they have no talent in that area.
The false praise that is given to kids so much these days to “build up their self-esteem” leads them to not realize they have no talent and provides fodder for junk shows like American Idol. You don’t have to tell a child that they are a terrible singer, but if your kid sounds like a sick seagull when they sing, don’t tell them they sing beautifully. Praise them for things they do well, praise them for honest effort, but never give false praise; they will either think you are dishonest, think you have no taste or believe you and wind up on American Idol or somewhere else they can fail spectacularly.
While I find the joke outrageous and distasteful, people are forgetting one thing…David Letterman does NOT write his own jokes. There are staff members that do this. So while the words came from his mouth, shouldn’t the anger be placed where it rightfully belongs? On the idiot that thought the joke was funny enough to have Larry say it on the air? I don’t know how much pull Larry has on what jokes are said on air and which aren’t, but if my sources are correct, he does what he’s told and repeats what’s given to him. So, being angry with Larry for repeating it can be justified. But I think the anger is misplaced and should be directed at the producers and writers, which is where the blame rightfully belongs. Larry’s the puppet, blame the puppet masters!
Who’s Larry?
Rape and incest has been going on since the beginning of time and until we all unify and rise up and take to the streets and say no more, will anything be done. We have to continuously lobby our lawmakers and prosecutors for toucher sentencing and better protection for our children. Every single person needs to email their state representative and senator once a month for children’s issues!! Visit our website and find out who they are today!! Tape their email address to your computer. Send them a polite email asking them to put the safety of our children first and foremost! Got to Megavote.com and find out what your officials are voting on!!
We send action alerts out from our website, providing email contact information and asking people to email lawmakers! Child abuse is at epidemic proportions in this nation with 1 out of 4 girls and 1 out of 6-7 boys will be molested by the age of 18.
Pornography is an 8 billion dollar industry. What does that tell you? Yes, Letterman does live in a little bubble. It sickens me to think of what he does in all of his free time, probably reading the sick Rolling Stones magizine and child porn. He is one of millions of sick men.
What kills me even more than his disgusting joke is his even more disgusting attempt at an “apology” and trying to say it wasnt THIS daughter he was talking about. OMG.
It calls into question what we as a nation have done to put people like this in positions where they get to broadcast their idiocy on national television – and pay them for the honor…what the heck are our values if this is what we are doing?? (dont get me started that is an ENTIRE other post!)
Not only does it send a message (both conscious and unconscious) to the nation and our children – but to the rest of the world.
Just like the black community would be appalled (and, might I add seriously attacking on SO MANY LEVELS) if a sexually laden joke in poor taste were leveled at the expense of, say – a black person…
I do not understand how people can say “oooh it was just a joke” Sexual harassment laws all state that “it was just a joke” is not a defense..and you will be held accountable for your words…
seriously?? people dont JOKE about things that they havent secrety thought about/agree with.
Thank you for your sensitive and insightful comments