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WORLD: Letterman forced to apologise after joke about Sarah Palin's daughter
Ellen Widdup17 Jun 2009
US talk show host David Letterman has made a grovelling apology to Sarah Palin after cracking jokes about her daughter's sex life.
The presenter for CBS admitted his remarks about the Alaska Governor's family were in bad taste on his programme The Late Show.
The former Republican vice-presidential candidate has accepted the apology.
The feud between the two started last week when Letterman, who devotes a segment of his show to topical gags, spoke about the Palin family trip to New York which included an outing to a New York Yankees baseball game.
He said: “There was one awkward moment during the seventh inning stretch. Her daughter got knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.”
The comedian said the joke involving the third baseman for the Yankees team, was aimed at 18-year-old Bristol, who recently gave birth to a son.
But it was actually Palin's 14-year-old daughter Willow, who attended the game and viewers of the programme complained about the remarks.
A furious Palin released a statement which said: “Laughter incited by sexually perverted comments made by a 62-year-old male celebrity aimed at a 14-year-old girl is ... disgusting.”
The row snowballed and Letterman was forced to issue a brief apology on Friday.
But outraged supporters of Mrs Palin threatened to picket his studios insisting he make more effort.
His second apology lasted eight minutes. He said: “It was a coarse joke, a bad joke. The joke, really, in and of itself, can't be defended. I'm sorry about it and I'll try to do better in the future.”
Publicity about the row has benefited both sides. The furore has helped to keep Palin's profile high, at a time when her possible run for President in three years' time appears to have bogged down in family feuding over Bristol's baby.
The row appears also to have boosted Letterman while he is competing for ratings with his rival Conan O'Brien on NBC's Tonight.
Reader views (9)
I doubt Miss Palin is all that innocent....
- Bean, Beanland, 01/10/2010 13:16
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Rogan, Sarah Palin thrust her whole family into the spotlight and used the to try a win the U.S. election for her religous extremist Republican party. Letterman did not scower the internet to find details about the Palin's family, Palin used them for political gain.
I don't think you get the joke, Palin is very prim and proper (and uses that for political gain), yet her older daughter got knocked up as a young teen (then split up with the father, after the election). Therein lies the humour. When it was revealed that Letterman was refering to the younger daughter he apologised. Time will tell if she will trun out as permiscuous as her older daughter tho!
- David Markson, Greenwich, 18/06/2009 09:42
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So Bob, you think it's ok to smear the 14 and 18 year old daughters sexually to score political points against their mother? You think this makes your opinion credible?
"In-credible" more like. Seriously dysfunctional too.
- Rogan, Irving, 18/06/2009 03:43
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Seriously eight minutes out of his programme for a SECOND apology ?
Get a grip people....an apology is an apology...presumably you want him to devote his whole show to an apology.
I am sure the man thinks they are as silly as I do it's just simpler to give them what they want-I would have told them to go and clear off if the first apology wasn't enough.
By why does the fact that he is 62 an issue ? If he was 23 would that make it OK ? I doubt it ...I don't like the woman much I have to say.
- Jason Stone, Stratford, Newham, 17/06/2009 16:30
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Rogan, on considering your comment, I can only concur that thinking people like myself do find themselves at odds with the pro-life lobby and indeed with creationists too.
- Bob, Cheam, 17/06/2009 15:57
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Bob, Cheam
Perpetuating knee-jerk myth does not alter the fact that this man went way beyond the pale in his joke. Whether you like the woman or not, it is the guy who was severely in the wrong here. The victims were not the woman you so dislike but her daughters. His apologies owe more to the pressure he has received from people even more liberal than he, than from any real remorse - or so it seems.
People thinking like you do help the attitude problem not at all.
- Rogan, Irving, 17/06/2009 14:18
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What about Baron Sacha Cohen and his joke about Elizabeth Fritzl, the woman who was kept a prisoner in a dungeon in Austria?
The magazine Marie Claire contains an article he wrote, 'A-Z of Fashion', which is described as "hilarious";
"A is for... AUSTRIA. Ze most amazing place in Europe. Ve’re all proud of our country und are raised to try und achieve ze Austrian dream – find a job, get a dungeon und raise a family in it. "
Who thinks a joke about imprisonment, rape, incest and the death of a child is funny?
- Manny Goldstein, London, UK, 17/06/2009 13:34
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Life today is so easy. Do as you like and just say sorry, unless of course it is in the rules.
- Bj, London, 17/06/2009 10:19
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"sexually perverted comments made by a 62-year-old male celebrity aimed at a 14-year-old girl is ... disgusting."
Most people would say that the pro-life lobby attacking people outside abortion clinics is disgusting too, but she doesn't seem to have a problem with it.
- Bob, Cheam, 17/06/2009 08:53
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