Successful CBS Producer Risks It All To Blackmail Letterman

[bijanc]

Why would an accomplished, educated, middle-aged man with a great job in Manhattan risk everything he has to extort a fellow entertainer?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/0 ... index.html

To what end? It's not like the alleged extortionist was an impoverished mailroom employee or a vagrant.

[rasb]

As with an iceberg, I suspect that 90% of this story is still underwater...

[tandfman]

What Letterman did was not entirely without risk either.

[Friar]

It was idiotic. I hope he was wearing the appropriate clothing when he deposited the --fake-- check. A Bozo getup. The DB probably didn't even think he was speaking into a wire.

Letterman is worth a half-billion, has access to anybody he wants in the system, and has been through this before. Perp's lawyer is putting up a front but I bet he pleads and this doesn't go to trial.

[tandfman]

Did anyone see the Letterman show where he explained what happened. When he said that he had had sex with women on his staff, some in the audience actually applauded. Mrs. tandfman was not amused.

[mump boy]

what's wrong with having sex with people you work with !!

i'm not suggesting it deserves a round of applause but it's not a crime is it ??

[Pego]

what's wrong with having sex with people you work with !!

i'm not suggesting it deserves a round of applause but it's not a crime is it ??

I agree. On one hand, we have sex with consenting adults - a minor indiscretion at the most. It's between him and his wife, nobody else's business.
On the other hand, we have an extortionist - a reprehensible crime.

No comparison in my book.

[guru]

Did anyone see the Letterman show where he explained what happened. When he said that he had had sex with women on his staff, some in the audience actually applauded. Mrs. tandfman was not amused.

The audience didn't know that what he was saying wasn't part of his regular shtick(at least until the very end).

[guru]

what's wrong with having sex with people you work with !!

i'm not suggesting it deserves a round of applause but it's not a crime is it ??

It's between him and his wife, nobody else's business.

And it's not even that, since he wsn't married at the time these affairs took place.

It's a real head scratcher what Halderman thought he had that was so incriminating about Letterman that he would pay $2 million(unless there's things aside from what we have heard about).

[jazzcyclist]

Time and time again, we have been shown that it is the truth that sets you free. Bill Cosby paid hush money for years to a woman that he thought was his daughter to keep the story of his affair a secret. But then she got greedy and tried to extort millions from him, at which point he decided that he had had enough and got law enforcement involved, and this resulted in the woman, Autumn Jackson, going to prison. Cosby also demanded that they take a paternity test and he gave blood for the test to be conducted, but then lo and behold, the woman's mother advised her not to take the test. If only he had demanded a test years earlier, he could have spared himself years of having this black cloud hanging over his head. Oprah Winfrey also chose Letterman's path when years ago she unexpectedly announced on her show that she had done crack, and instead of becoming a major news story on the front pages of newspapers, it was a minor story buried deep in the newspaper the next day.

On another thread I tried to explain that the difference in the treatments of Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte is that Pettitte relied on the truth to set him free and Clemens didn't, but at least one poster seemed unable to comprehend the power of the truth.

Another example of the power of the truth are the contrasting stories of Richard Armitage, Robert Novak's source in his story outing Valerie Plame, and Scooter Libby.

[guru]

But again jazz, whatdid Letterman do that the "truth would set him free'? Unlike Cosby, he wasn't married. And unlike others you cited he did nothing illegal.

Bad judgement in that he worked with the women? Maybe. But certainlynothing incriminating or career killing.

[SQUACKEE]

He pleaded not guilty btw, there has to be more to this story than how it appears, doncha think? I mean David Letterman having sex is not news, if he didnt have any sex ever, that would be news worthy and something he may want to hide.

He had sex with younger co-workers, so what, Until i hear different im giving these ladies the respect they deserve. They are adults who knew what they were doing and are in no way victims. Woman want to be liberated and they are. You wanna have sex, have sex. You wanna have sex with your un-married boss? Knock yourself out but dont ever cry victim.


Gotta be more to this..................

[bad hammy]

Did anyone see the Letterman show where he explained what happened. When he said that he had had sex with women on his staff, some in the audience actually applauded. Mrs. tandfman was not amused.

The audience didn't know that what he was saying wasn't part of his regular shtick(at least until the very end).

In fact Letterman chastised the audience at one point with a "you think this is funny??"-type comment. But in defense of the audience, Dave started the whole thing off as kind of a goof, and how would the audience know he was dead serious?

Workplace sexual harassment folks might take issue with Letterman having sex with folks who report to him at work (and pretty much everyone on the show and at Worldwide Pants ultimately reports to him).

But with what we know so far it seems like this blackmailer over-reached a bit.

[SQUACKEE]

Did anyone see the Letterman show where he explained what happened. When he said that he had had sex with women on his staff, some in the audience actually applauded. Mrs. tandfman was not amused.

The audience didn't know that what he was saying wasn't part of his regular shtick(at least until the very end).

In fact Letterman chastised the audience at one point with a "you think this is funny??"-type comment. But in defense of the audience, Dave started the whole thing off as kind of a goof, and how would the audience know he was dead serious?

Workplace sexual harassment folks might take issue with Letterman having sex with folks who report to him at work (and pretty much everyone on the show and at Worldwide Pants ultimately reports to him).

But with what we know so far it seems like this blackmailer over-reached a bit.

Can you harass the willing?

[jazzcyclist]

But again jazz, whatdid Letterman do that the "truth would set him free'? Unlike Cosby, he wasn't married. And unlike others you cited he did nothing illegal.

Bad judgement in that he worked with the women? Maybe. But certainlynothing incriminating or career killing.

I thought I heard that some of this stuff went on after he got married, but I guess you do have a good point. The only thing he had to risk is the wrath of his longtime companion/wife. By the way, one of the Price is Right girls tried to do the same thing to Bob Barker a few years ago.