David Letterman Is Maybe No Longer On My Top Ten List

Oh, David Letterman. What are we going to do with you?

I mean, I applaud your willingness to go out on a limb for a joke. It's what makes you watchable, as opposed to, say, Jay Leno, who was never watchable, because, seriously. But then you go and make a joke that seems to mock child rape and you know, I think that that might have been a bit too much.

I mean, really. That's not awkward? Offensive, even?

Letterman insisted later that he wasn't joking about 14 year old Willow, who was actually at the referenced game, but rather 18 year old Bristol, who was not. Which, okay, maybe, if you buy it, makes the joke a little less skeevy, but still. Comics taking potshots at the supposed promiscuity of young women - never mind girls - who are not Paris Hilton (which is to say, young women who have not chosen to be in the public eye and/or have not chosen to exploit their sexuality for fame) makes me a little uncomfortable.

Should it? Or am I just being a humorless prude here?

Source

Comments

[Jane of Seagull Fountain]

Well, I am probably a humorless prude, so my agreeing with you may not mean much.

[Kiki]

Before I read Palin's response and realized everyone else was taking it as a joke about Willow, I assumed he was just making fun of Spitzer - saying that Bristol was his type (which she kinda seems to be) and that he's so tasteless he would actually go after her. It's possible I'm being naively innocent about the whole thing.

[Kiki]

I guess I didn't read all of the Top Ten. Apparently the joke referred to here was about A-Rod knocking up Palin's daughter.

I would also kind of assume that any knocked-up daughter jokes would be directed at Bristol, too. To take it from "Palin has bad luck with her daughters getting knocked up" to "laughing at the idea of raping a 14-year-old" seems a stretch to me.

[drinky]

Well, Bristol entered public life when she (presumably of her own accord) decided to become a spokesperson for an abstinence-only group. Technically that makes her fair game, but if I were Dave, I would have passed on that joke.

[shelley]

There i no talk of child rape...

The joke was funny, and obv pointed at Bristol, or whomever wrote the joke didn't know that the other daughter was 14. I think you are maybe reading too much into it.

[ljpock]

I'm not getting child rape out of this either. I don't know who was at the game, didn't even know Palin had a 14 year old honestly, only know of Bristol so that's instantly who I assumed he was talking about.

[raye]

I thought it was pretty sick, to be honest. Whether he's talking about a 14 year old or an 18 year old, it's still obscene, in my opinion. I wouldnt find it funny if someone cracked jokes on TV about my teenaged daughter being knocked up, regardless of whether he was 15 or 19 years older. He should leave the kids out of it.

[blissfully caffeinated]

I don't get a child rape reference from this. He's obviously referring to Bristol, S.P.'s (yes teenaged, but over 18) daughter who happened to be knocked up very publicly during the election. Maybe the joke is in bad taste, but I don't think Letterman should be crucified for it.

[coco loco]

of course the joke was about bristol-- the palin daughter who had already been knocked up...we know he wasnt talkin about piper, the little one. and until this whole letterman thing happened, nobody even remembered the middle daughter...the palins like publicity and looking victimized. it was a really funny joke, and dave's "apology" was even funnier.

[Barbara]

I really don't understand making fun of Bristol or the 14 year old at all. I mean it's just icky and creepy. That's coming from the mom of girls, so take it as you may.

[JZMom]

I heard someone talking about this on the radio this morning, during the "news" segment. Seriously??? A guy walked into the Holocaust Museum yesterday, and an officer died, but a (weak) joke is more important news? Bad taste, maybe, but whatevs. I'm with coco loco - the Palins like being the victim.

[Michelle Lamar]

Mom of two girls, just sayin' I think it's a creepy joke, making fun of a 14 OR 18 year old girl. If you're a prude, so am I.

[AmyH]

My take on it is that he was making jokes about Bristol--the one that was paraded out in the public by Palin during the campaign. She had her on stage at the convention and presented her relationship with baby daddy as normal because they were getting married.

I doubt Letterman even knew that the 14 year old daughter was in town with Palin. They look very similar. I think Palin has taken this to the extreme saying that she doesn't trust Letterman around her 14 year old daughter. Are you kidding me?

It wasn't a great joke, but it certainly wasn't about a 14 year old. The Palin's are blowing this WAAAAAY out of proportion.

[Mama Lost]

No, I think people need to take responsibility for their actions. Period. I'm tired of our kids being used and sexualized in the media. It's a new 'trend' that is WRONG.

ML

[Mama Lost]

Word!

[Mama Lost]

Or maybe we are just WAAAAAAY too de-sensitized? (I swear this is my last post!)

ML

[ballerinatoes]

It wasn't funny. And I don't care which daughter he was talking about. It was bad and wrong. And again, not funny. There is no excuse.

[ndc]

"it was a really funny joke"? dude, you are loco. If the Obama girls are off limits, why are the Palin girls subject to late night "humor"?

[DavidS]

From the clip, this looks like a promiscuity joke about A-Rod! But, yes, it's also a humorous critique about evangelical teens being more likely to get knocked up, mocking the pious hypocrisy of "abstinence only" morality, in the face of higher rates of teen pregnancy and STDs.

More info about "red state" morality and sex ed at www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/11/03/081103fa_fact_talbot