Letterman’s Sex/Extortion Revelation: Where Does It Go From Here?

• Let’s look at his past jokes – is he a hypocrite? Out of all the late night hosts, David Letterman is arguably the most biting in his jabs at the sexual proclivities of the famous, politically and otherwise. Now people will raise the question of hypocrisy.

Michelle Malkin made this point today on Fox & Friends. “You’re right to point out, and I pointed it out last night myself, that there is irony here and it’s hard not to have a smidge of schadenfreude for somebody who’s shown contempt for women in public, in his monologues continuously and repeatedly especially over the campaign and how he’s treated Sarah Palin and her family.”

Obviously Palin is the most current example, but it goes back even further – to former Pres. Bill Clinton, for example. Letterman even had a Gov. Mark Sanford joke in his monologue last night. Will that change (or, rather, should it), and will the jokes be seen in a new light now?

• And the cynics say – doesn’t this help ratings? Newsday writes, “How the extortion attempt affects ratings or fans or the show itself may be the least of CBS’ worries,” and that may be, but won’t it help ratings?

This is coming on a time when Letterman is establishing (and some people might say, finally establishing) himself as the king of late night. A revelation like this has the power to draw people in – even if it turns some off. But more importantly, we go back to storyline #1. Letterman’s decision to air this out publicly, on-air, gives the appearance a viewer may miss his next thoughts on the case, or big breaking news, if they don’t tune to CBS each night. On a purely ratings front, this is likely to be a win for Letterman.

• But seriously, what’s the big deal? With the information that is currently out on this story, and from a purely legal standpoint, David Letterman is 100% in the right. Maybe not morally, maybe he’s being a hypocrite, but there will be those who say the late night host won’t be harmed by this stunning event. TVNewser caught some comments on CNN’s American Morning from In Touch Weekly‘s Tom O’Neill: “You don’t think of David Letterman as a sexual object. But on the other hand he’s the classic bohemian. He’s a rascal. If this happened to Jay Leno, it might be damaging, but how damaging is it with Letterman’s audience?”

And back to Donny Deutsch: “Do you think if we go around this newsroom here there aren’t people having productive personal relationships? Of course there are.” Cue uncomfortable chatter – but really, the victim here is Letterman, until we see otherwise. But we’re likely to see a lot, online, in print and on TV, in the next few weeks.

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