Ohhhhhh wowsers. Someone backed David Letterman into quite a corner. The late-night host admitted at a taping of his show this afternoon that someone attempted to blackmail him for $2M as a result of sexual relations he’d had with members of his staff.
During the taping of his CBS late-night show in New York, Letterman discussed receiving a threat to either pay $2 million or risk the relationships being made public.
In a release from the show’s production company, Letterman said he referred the matter to the Manhattan district attorney’s office and that an investigation ended in an arrest Thursday. Letterman did not identify the person he said was arrested.
As part of the investigation, Letterman said he issued a “phony” $2 million check to the individual and the arrest followed — along with testimony by Letterman.
“This morning, I did something I’ve never done in my life,” said Letterman. “I had to go downtown and testify before a grand jury.”
In his testimony, he said he acknowledged sexual relationships with members of his staff. It was not immediately clear when the relationships took place; Letterman and longtime girlfriend Regina Lasko married in March. The couple began dating in 1986 and have a son, Harry, born in November 2003.
“My response to that is, yes I have,” Letterman said. “Would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Perhaps it would. I feel like I need to protect these people. I need to certainly protect my family.”
I’m going to go ahead and assume that the relationships took place while he was with his current girlfriend. If they happened before 1986, why would he feel threatened by a blackmail attempt? Who cares who banged whom in 1986? But obviously Letterman’s World Wide Pants are living up to their name. I’m waiting on a clip of the actual Letterman broadcast so I can embed it … let me know if you come across it on YouTube.
Update: Vid is above. Awwwwwkward. TMZ reports that 51-year-old Robert Halderman, an employee of 48 Hours, has been arrested, and CBS has suspended him pending results of the investigation.
Liberal hypocrite…. but I repeat myself. Go away Dave. You aren’t funny.
So how are the Conservative hypocrites doing these days? They are too numerous to list right now…just Google republican political scandals for just the last 5 months.
Dave didn’t waste our time with denials.
WHY DOES EVERYTHING HAVE TO BE LIBERAL VS CONSERVATIVE??!?!!!? god fucking dammit.
and yes, I had to yell
He’s not a politician, nor did he ever preach “family values” then take off
for the “Appalachian trail” or tap dance in a men’s room stall.
Neither did he father a child by some bimbo who was “filming a documentary” for his presidential run, then put a staffer up to claiming the child was his, all while his wife was dealing with terminal cancer.
Get off your high horse.
Way to go, EvilBeet. I haven’t seen this news on any other sites!
me too me too same here. i haven’t seen this bit of news anywhere else yet, and i always read yours last. i always save the best for last! way to go! (well, second to last…the only thing i love more than juicy gossip is BLIND gossip!!)
so i googled this to see what bigger news site was talking about this, and a lot of commentors are saying really negative things about dL. um. did i miss something? am i not supposed to like the guy? i don’t know too much about him save for a handful of eps… oops. dont hate me!…
nevermind i retract what i said. he’s such a douchebag -_-;;
wow. even though he did sleezy things, he still comes off as a cool guy. gaahh.
Well since Letterman is a adult and single until a year or so ago, I don’t understand why the media are calling them affairs.
Who cares he had sex?
Again, adult male. Single.
And I suspect his now wife was well aware of the other women he had dated before they married.
I don’t why this allege blackmailer thought Letterman would pay him squat. Letterman did the smart thing by going to the DA.
Well I’d hope his wife was aware considering they dated for 20+ YEARS. And maybe that’s why they never married, cause old dirtbag Dave couldn’t keep it in his pants.
“CONAN would never cheat on his significant other and sex a bunch of ladies!” was the first thing that came to my mind when I read this. I’m not quite sure what that says of my maturity level.
omg listening to the audience laugh awkwardly is funny
So, he cheats. Loads of men cheat. Loads of women cheat.
For me, the moral pay-off is that the blackmailer is getting his comeuppance. That seems so much sleazier to me than a man giving in to his hormonal urges.
My thoughts exactly.
Someone asked what the fear would be if the sexual relations took place before he dated his current wife… Well, it’s never a good idea to hump someone who works With or For you. So if any of these women wanted to suggest sexual harassment, they could. It may have been consensual, but many people are capable of bringing lawsuits that damage your reputation.
I think he handled this the best way possible. Just get the naughty info out in the open and let it be brushed away. The people don’t really care that he had sex. By admitting it, he took away the power of those who would seek to extort him.
What is somewhat embarrassing for the network is that one of their own employees–on a news(ish) show- is the one who was trying to illegally squeeze money. Imagine how much fun Dave could have had blasting a different network if the criminal had been associated with one of their programs.
I still love Dave. Everyone makes mistakes, not saying everyone cheats, but several people have. I think the fact that he put it out there rather than trying to hide or deny it is a good thing. Makes me like him even more. And of course he didn’t cheat on me (and is old enough to be my dad – ew) so it doesn’t really affect me.
what an idiot. he could have published a book and gotten bunch of money w/o trying to blackmail dave… :)
Yikes. I don’t particularly love Letterman — actually, I can’t stand him! He’s so smarmy! — but that was painful and humanizing. Yeeouch.
I gotta say, I really appreciate the lack of denials. He didn’t make excuses, he didn’t try to wiggle out of the accusation. He came right out and said what he had done. Any person who readily admits to a mistake and then takes the licks for what they’ve done earns a lot of respect from me.
Had our dear South Carolinian governor just said where he was straight up, less of an issue. Had our suave Senator Edwards admitted to his ills (while still deserving a strong kick in the gonads), it wouldn’t have been so damning.
And of course, Slick Willy and his “I did NOT have relations with that woman” nonsense.
When will people learn that lies build bigger problems? I say bravo to Dave for being forthright. And sadly, his behavior in the past is entirely too normal. No big deal for those of us NOT in a relationship or directly working for him.
Now the word is out that the “other woman” who was involved in the bribery scheme was his personal assistant, Stephanie Birkett, who he had on the show all the time doing those dumb gags and stuff. I always thought she was pretty cute. But Jesus, how could she sleep with the likes of him…ew, ew, ew. She must have had to scrub herself with a wire brush afterwards.
I’m with Erin….shine a light on it so slimebags can’t blackmail you. Consenting adults people…his assistant did NOT have to sleep with him – if she did, we’d be looking at sexual harassment – which doesn’t seem to be the case here. sleeping around is no one’s business – but for him to go public with it on his own show…that takes balls. yes, I know he was doing a huge CYA but he could have hidden behind a huge PR smoke-screen.
Blackmailers are scum.
Oh Dave, you’re a naughty naughty boy. The only person that should be pissed off is his wife. Do I care that he boinked a staffer? Nope, as long as my tax dollars didn’t pay for it.
Maybe he would be embarassed because the people he had affairs with were not women. Hello….
Who’s there?
Who knew that David Letterman had it in him… or that he was fond of putting it in staffers?