Letterman Responds To Palin Over Jokes (VIDEO)

David Letterman responded to Sarah Palin on his show Wednesday night after the Alaska governor slammed the "Late Show" host for a series of jokes he made about her and her family Monday. Palin accused Letterman of making "disgusting" and "sexually perverted" jokes about one of her daughters, including one about her daughter being impregnated by Alex Rodriguez at a Yankees game. She had also criticized Letterman for a joke about her looking like a "slutty flight attendant," which she deemed "pretty pathetic."

In a segment that lasted over 7 minutes, Letterman read the statements issued by Sarah and Todd Palin expressing their outrage about parts of his Top 10 list and then went through the offending jokes one-by-one to both apologize for and defend their content. "I'm telling you, I recognize that these are ugly. These are actually ugly. These are borderline...but again, in an act of desperation to get cheap laughs, which is what I've been doing for the last 30 years," Letterman said.

Despite maintaining his usual tone of playful sarcasm as he discussed his flap with Palin, Letterman did respond seriously to the charge that he had made a rape joke about a 14-year-old girl: "These are not jokes made about her 14-year-old daughter. I would never, never make jokes about raping or having sex of any description with a 14-year-old girl," he said. Letterman insisted the jokes were intended to be about Bristol, who is 18-years-old. "Am I guilty of poor taste? Yes. Did I suggest that it was OK for her 14-year-old daughter to be having promiscuous sex? No."

He concluded by inviting Palin to come be a guest on his show.

UPDATE 6.11
Sarah Palin responded Thursday morning to Dave's invitation to appear on his show in a statement to Foxnews.com: ""The Palins have no intention of providing a rating's boost for David Letterman by appearing on his show," the statement read. "Plus, it would be wise to keep Willow away from David Letterman."

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Comments

[Zeroes]

02:21 AM on 07/07/2009

Flight Attendants are going to mass in new york...the­y don't want davie riding in their planes.

[TruthMatters09]

04:14 PM on 06/29/2009

It is up to Letterman how he wanted to handle this.

Clarifying what he meant is resonable to say the least.

[bigxav]

03:41 PM on 06/16/2009

Letterman'­s apology was inadequate­: He continued to treat the whole thing as a joke. Indeed, he kept digging his own hole and only managed to offend me even more. Worse, to see the apology at the CBS website you must first watch a Citi commercial­: CBS wants to further profit from the joke and “apology.”
It is distressin­g to see how low values have descended in America. It is now okay to demean a person, even a child just because someone else does it; it is okay to demean a child just because I don’t like her relatives; indeed, it is okay to demean an eighteen year old, after all she is old enough, she should know better, and she too is flawed. Maybe that is why Muslim “extremist­s” are so afraid of American values; they don’t want their own people to drop that low.

[dcrinaz]

04:00 PM on 06/16/2009

You are absolutely wrong. Do you watch Letterman regularly? I have ever since he started. His joke was no worse than others that have been told, and frankly, I don't think he owes that grandstand­ing hypocrite Sarah Palin an apology. Others have made jokes just as rude and inappropri­ate. Where was her response then? When Letterman had told the joke--and I saw it the night it was first run--I assumed that he was speaking about Palin's oldest daughter, the one who got knocked up. Was his joke any worse than Conan O'Brien's "Saturday night, Sarah Palin is going to drop the first puck at the Philadelph­ia Flyers' hockey game. Then Palin will spend the rest of the game trying to keep the hockey players out of her daughter's penalty box"? Letterman aimed the joke at Bristol Palin, Elliott Spitzer and Alex Rodriguez. Anyone watching would have have understood that. I certainly did not know or care which of her daughters was at the ball game with her; it was a joke, not a news report and not a history lesson. And we all know which of the two daughters was knocked up. So keep your sanctimoni­ous self-right­eousness to yourself. Letterman may have told a joke in poor taste, it may have not been accurate to certain facts, but I don't think he owes anyone an apology. But he did, and he was sincere.

[bigxav]

05:11 PM on 06/16/2009

Decrinaz, I wonder if you realize that you just made my point?

[Biffmeister]

10:03 PM on 06/15/2009

Alright Tina Fey, time for another SNL sketch with your superb impression of Alaska's governor.

[Zeroes]

02:23 AM on 07/07/2009

Tina Fey...nah.­..she's not stupid...s­he already did her lines...Ti­na is moving on.

[naughtymonkey]

12:19 AM on 06/15/2009

Palin's daughter Bristol has been the subject of other similar jokes by late night talk show hosts. Refer to "Top 10 Late-Night Jokes About Bristol Palin" in the link to Daniel Kurtzman's Political Humor Blog on http://pol­iticalhumo­r.about.co­m/
So, why has Palin just become "incensed" now?
$$$$$$$$$$ is why. Palin needs cash to pay for legal fees, most expensive fee was one which she incurred for using a pricey lawyer which she used for her defense. She also owes approximat­ely $10,000 ,due this month, as a pay back to the State of Alaska for her political trips for which individual family members went along. She can fire up her base (c$o$t$r$i­$b$u$t$o$r­$s) and get money given to her Fund Trust.

[TigersEye]

12:00 AM on 06/15/2009

Once you enter the realm of politics not much is sacred. If Palin was not intending to be a publicity attention grabber herself she would have completely ignored Letterman'­s comments. NOT ignoring them led to this media frenzy. Otherwise his comments would have just faded away and he's onto his next show. Anyway, Palin could have chosen to keep her kids out of the spotlight from the get-go, if she had wanted to. Bristol is no stranger to tabloid coverage herself.

[Palerider1960]

10:00 PM on 06/14/2009

You lefties must be really scared of the Alaskan governor's political future judging by all the negative comments. Geez, any smart person wouldn't keep the lady in the news if he / she truly wanted to see the governor fade into obscurity. What a bunch of dumbasses.

[JudyChicago]

10:14 PM on 06/14/2009

Hey, you are grounded for your potty mouth.

We just love to write about the silly lady who watches Russia from her porch.

[marbiol]

11:49 PM on 06/14/2009

ugh... that's whats her name from SNL who can see Russia from HER porch [on Central Pak North!!!]

LOL!!

[Heru1]

11:35 PM on 06/14/2009

I don't want ot see her fade into obscurity, I want Palin to be the GOP nominee in 2012 to remind the nation what a party of idgits u have become

[puffhost]

09:22 PM on 06/14/2009

1. Kids should be off limits to jokes.

2. Palin is a major hypocrite for her response to Letterman. She did run with McCain, a man who mocked Chelsea Clinton ON THE SENATE FLOOR! I think the Chelsea jokes must have hurt the victim much more than the Bristol joke. I always felt bad for Chelsea. If Letterman should call it quits over this than McCain should resign, and Rush should turn off the golden mic.

[dcrinaz]

03:36 PM on 06/16/2009

While kids should be off-limits to jokes, they should also be off-limits to being used as political pawns by their parents, which will lend towards their being targets of jokes. If Sarah Palin had really cared about her children, she would have done all she could to isolate them from public view. It is not 100% possible, but a lot can be done.

Besides, what is the governor of Alaska doing out of Alaska all the time? This is what her constituen­ts should be asking.

[nailinpalinnow]

08:14 PM on 06/14/2009

When is Sarah Palin going to apologize for slandering David Letterman?

[JudyChicago]

10:35 PM on 06/14/2009

After she apologizes to her children for dragging them into the public arena.

[frankath]

07:11 PM on 06/14/2009

I can always tell when the righties with their word-for-w­ord talking points invade. No amount of common sense will be allowed to sink in - they've been told what to say and who to say it to. I doubt that Letterman even KNEW that there WAS a 14 year old daughter - I didn't and I'm a political junkie. I did know that one daughter had been a pregnant unmarried teenager when Palin was running for VP and that is who 95% of Americans figured he was referrring to - that is until the talking points come out. What a bunch of phonies!

[Lettermanisapervert]

05:31 PM on 06/16/2009

Letterman is now ignorant as well as perverted?

[frankath]

06:58 PM on 06/14/2009

Here's what Dave should do:

Send Bristol Palin a personal letter and apologize to her for the tasteless comment. Invite her to come on the show so he can do so in person.

Send Willow Palin a personal letter expalining that he did NOT intend to reference her in any joke or in any way and apologize for any misunderst­anding.

If Bristol does come on the show (and she just MIGHT, after having to have her life run for a year now by and for her mother and she IS in fact, now an adult and mother), treat her with respect and let her do her "thing" for abstinence­.

Then - never, and I mean NEVER refer to Sarah or Todd Palin in any way, ever, ever again. If Armegeddon comes, and Palin runs for President of something, that might be difficult, but don't give her the satisfacti­on ot the publicity.

[UncleMilo]

07:11 PM on 06/14/2009

No... Dave should do nothing and Palin should shut the hell up.

If Palin can't take this, she should retreat from public office and never run for anything again ever... not that she has any business holding office now.

[Palerider1960]

10:03 PM on 06/14/2009

I'm quite sure that the governor would be pleasantly pleased with your proposed aggreement­. Also, judging by Letterman'­s number of viewers at any given time, the lack of publicity originatin­g from Dave's corner won't be too much of a blip on the radar, hah!

[marbiol]

03:44 PM on 06/14/2009

I wish Dave would be just a little more "PC"--but the palin jokes WERE funny!!


I know he has his own writers, but I thought his audience would like these--so I submitted them! THESE ARE REALLY FUNNY!!!

From the Tonight Show, with Jack Parr in late 1960 :
One awkward moment for Medelyn Dunham at the Philadelph­ia Warriors game, during halftime, her daughter Stanley Ann was knocked up by Wilt Chamberlai­n..

One awkward moment for David Letterman at the Indy-Laker­s game on March 5th (2003), during halftime, Regina Lasko was knocked up by Kobe Bryant.


SEE- THEY ARE NOT ONLY REAL RIBTICKLER­S--BUT THEY ARE TIMELY AS WELL!!

HOPE YOU ENJOYED THEM!!

[JudyChicago]

10:02 PM on 06/14/2009

So what's your point?

[marbiol]

01:02 AM on 06/15/2009

my 'point" has now been CENSORED 3 times!!! Sorry you'll NEVER read about it!!
DISSENT IS PATRIOTIC!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!!1

[Veratruth]

01:56 PM on 06/14/2009

Response to LadyLibert­y1: Letterman should be ashamed of himself and apologize to the Palin family. ALSO, Sarah Palin should be ashamed and apologetic for the way she incited "ill will" when she was the GOP VP candidate ... "disconten­t" lingers today in the hearts of many.

[Heru1]

11:38 PM on 06/14/2009

PAlin should apologize for inciting violence against Obama and she should stop playing victim

[Biffmeister]

09:59 PM on 06/15/2009

Yep.

[elizlucinda]

12:47 PM on 06/14/2009

Okay Sarah...Th­e man has aplogized the best way he knows how to apologize. Go back to trollville Sarah!!

[Veratruth]

02:05 PM on 06/14/2009

I am wondering if FOX News is all Sarah has left....

[Marshabio02]

12:36 PM on 06/14/2009

Funny how Palin and them are all cranky about the Letterman jokes, but I never once heard a peep out any of them concerning the Nailin' Palin porn flick or the Palin blow up doll.

Wonder Why?

[dsmyre]

05:57 PM on 06/14/2009

Oh, Sarah won't complain about her own image being sexualized­. She had supporters in Alaska with signs "Coldest State - Hottest Governor". She likes to use her sex-appeal for attention. She is the opposite of a feminist, so her claiming to be concerned about womens issues is just bunk.

[Lettermanisapervert]

05:17 PM on 06/16/2009

Are you coming out from your rock. Everyone is using sex appeal these days. Are you also the opposite of a feminist. Do you support the rape of a 14 year old girl? Or just rape in general? These questions are actually derogatory­. I assume not, so why not speak out even if it goes against your political leaning. It is the right thing to do. Isn't it? Letterman should not be defended. We need to work together liberal or conservati­ve to put sexism behind us. By the way you don't have to be a feminist to object to jokes about rape from a 62 year old man. All Americans and for that mater humans should take a stand on this issue.