48 Hours producer Robert Halderman — they call him “Joe” — is an idiot. As more details of the David Letterman extortion plot are revealed, we’ve learned that Halderman deposited his $2M check that was given to him a couple of days ago in exchange for his silence. Unfortunately for him, it was a check with no funds to back it up . TMZ dug up Joe’s 2004 divorce papers, of course. This guy was paying almost $6,000 a month in child and spousal support. No wonder he needed two million of David Letterman’s dollars!
Stephanie Birkitt, an intern on Letterman’s show back in the ’90s (she later returned, working and appearing on the show for almost 10 years), is one of the women who allegedly had an affair with Dave in 2003. She lived with Halderman for a time, which is clearly how he hatched his plan to blackmail the talk show host.
Personally, David Letterman has fallen down a peg in my estimation. I don’t care that he’s a cheater — whatever, that’s his situation to deal with. What I do feel bad about is how he delivered the news to his audience like it was some big joke. I felt bad for his wife who most assuredly is not laughing.
Thats the thing I hated about it.
The audience laughed like it was one big joke. I feel sorry for his wife!
Two pegs down in my book. I was a big follower of his show back when Stephanie was on it all the time…I knew it!!!!
He turned cheating on his gf/wife into an applause break. I think it would have been better left unsaid.
Here’s another thought to consider-maybe his wife (girlfriend at the time) knew about this. She most likely did. Women aren’t stupid. They know when their man has some on the side. It’s possible she was ok with it or that she tolerated it for whatever reason. There are those couples that have an agreement that side relationships are tolerated. Of course that’s not what one thinks of in terms of long-term relationships but it’s definitely out there.
Yeah, i know! It’s weird how the audience laughed. I didn’t like that one bit. I never liked Dave’s show. Jay was always much better, if you ask me. And I always get creeped out by boss/employee relationships. It’s almost like the boss abuses his position for some nookie. I’m not saying it wasn’t consensual, because I’m sure that it was. I just feel that bosses shouldn’t ever get involved with employees, because the worker may feel obligated to engage in sex for fear of losing their job.
what’s the big deal? It’s really none of our business who Dave fucks or if his girlfriend/wife knew or didn’t know. I watched the show and Dave was telling his story, it is not his fault the audience laughed. I didn’t think he delivered the news/confession in a funny way. Would it have been ‘okay’ if the guy had pictures of Dave and his wife doing s&m? Would that be acceptable? What adults do behind closed doors (as long as it isn’t against the law) is their business. Does anyone remember the Price is Right Bob Barker sex scandal? Didn’t seem to ruin his career or take away viewers. I don’t want to know the dirty little secrets.
He was damned if he did, damned if he didn`t. C`mon. If he HADN`T confessed publicly you`d be down his throat for not manning up and taking responsibility. The paparazzi would be hounding him asking him every day if he had a comment and his non-response would be all over the internet along with comments about it.
As the other posters mentioned, it is absolutely none of our business, and it`s sad we live in an age where we for some reason feel entitled to apologizes from celebrities for their bad behaviour.
I to feel sorry for his wife, but mostly I feel sorry because we`ve created a culture where the private is so public due to our demand.
* bad grammar above. Should read:
I too feel sorry for his wife…
Ah yes! I totally agree with everything you said!
If they dated for like 20 years without getting married, decent chance they had an open relationship.
i watched the clip of dave telling his story and I didn;t even think it was funny. i have no idea what the audience was laughing at. did they feel obligated to laugh or something? As for Letterman’s personal life, I hardly give a rat’s ass what he does, he isn’t the first person to have a little bit on the side, but we definatly are a society that thrives on finding these things out.
that joe guy was an idiot… is an idiot.. did i already write that?
I watched the clip too. I think it was something he pretty much HAD to do. He didn’t want to, he is mortified and totally embarrassed and it seemed pretty evident to me. He IS a funny man people….No, to me it didn’t seem like he was making it one big joke and laughing at all, he seemed ashamed and he didn’t seem like a super happy camper in my opinion. The audience was laughing, how can he do anything about that? Regardless….If he hadn’t said anything, it all would have come out in the tabloids and been an uglier mess than now. How do WE know that his wife never knew? Who knows. I think the whole thing is sad and I feel bad for Letterman.
I agree with Staci and Barbara. He looked serious, I think the audience thought he was kidding.
Also, Letterman was the victim of a crime. Why are we punishing him verbally? We’ve lost sight of the fact that someone tried to blackmail him, and that someone is yet another person at CBS news who is completely untrustworthy. What is going on over there anyway? I hope he goes to jail for a long time.
Agree with Staci. I think the audience was confused, at first thinking
it was some kind of “bit”. Ugly situation, and I feel sorry for him too.
Aside from the employee/employer-sex issue, is-a-guy-cheating-if-he’s-in-an-unmarried-partnership-issue and the do-we-care-about-what-an-entertainer-gets-up-to-in-private-if-it’s-legal-issue, I’m really staggered by Joe Halderman’s stupidity in thinking that he could get away with this.
When you suddenly deposit millions more than usual into your bank account, what flags do you think that triggers with the IRS and the bank itself? Unless he had a secret Swiss account or an off-shore account. You’ve created a permanent record tying you to the person who you blackmailed.
And I thought that usually blackmailers have to hand over the evidence so that the victim can destroy it. Who’s to say that Halderman wouldn’t just make copies and do the whole thing all over again when he’s blown through his ill-gotten gains? I thought that blackmailers tend to keep coming back once they got their victim hooked.
And why a modest two million? Why not be more ambitious as long as you are risking public humiliation, loss of your job and possibly any future job, and jail time? His kids would have been so proud if they could have known that Daddy extorted the money that paid for their support.
Monumentally dumb.
I don’t think it’s that big a deal that Dave put the pressure on several women that worked for him to fuck him. He’s a man, and all men need to flaunt their power over women whenever they get the chance, especially those of us wonderful enough to be in powerful positions. What do you expect from one of the funniest and most famous comedians ever to grace our television sets? We should all be thanking him for sharing his ‘horrific’ sexual exploits with us on national television instead of crucifying him. I don’t care if these women were whipping him with a strap while he wore a saddle on his back, he’s a hero in my book. I, for one, can’t imagine how he could possibly top this amazingly genuine and heartfelt display of humility in front of millions of adoring fans, like me. Dave, there’s millions of us that have your back and will watch your show every single night, just to support you. Hang in there buddy!