Late Night w/David Letterman

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Cos you're a typical Canadian misogynist.

Hey, I never knew that sexual harassment was forbidden in the workplace until I read that post, how educational.
 
Lila64 said:
You have no way of knowing if this was consenual or not. Yes, I understand he's the boss & the celebrity here, but you can't make judgement calls without knowing all the facts, and we never will.
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I believe Dave's stoopings were 'consensual'.

That still does not prevent him from being a 'target" for a sexual harassment suit.

go to the link I posted

I know someone that practices law in that field

the lawsuits are very prevalent.
 
I'm just saying we shouldn't suddenly decide Letterman's an dirtbag because he had an affair, regardless of whether or not it was with someone who worked for him. If you applied that standard to everyone there wouldn't be a lot of people left to think so highly of.
 
David Letterman Scandal: Who Is Stephanie Birkitt? | Access Hollywood - Celebrity News, Photos & Videos

Letterman Paid Assistant’s Law School Bill

By Richard Rushfield on October 3, 2009 at 12:52 AM

As revealed last night, Late Night host David Letterman could be an especially good boss to some of his more special assistants. The show’s staff has long buzzed upon the attentions Dave bestows upon his favourites. Some details we’ve learned:

• Letterman had a cadre of female assistants who fell heavily on the young and attractive side of the ledger. He was said to employ as not less than three of these Special Assistants to the Host last year. The assistant tally however, was said to have climbed as high as five at moments.

• The current assistant-in-question, Stephanie Birkitt, was widely rumoured among the staff to have received extra compensation for duties as his First Assistant, in the form of Letterman picking up the tab for her graduate law studies at the Yeshiva University Law School.

• Birkitt’s duties included nannying work around the office. She could often be seen playing with his son and chasing him through the office halls.

• Birkitt also frequently appeared on air, playing the part of Dave’s assistant in sketches and often delivering prizes to audience members in constants. Dave favoured Birkitt with playful nicknames in these moments such as “Vicky” “Kitty” and “Dutch.”

• Each Valentines Day, Letterman sent lavish, expensive bouquets of flowers to each and every non-male on the Late Show staff with a handwritten note signed “Your Friend Dave.”

• Eyebrows were raised around the office by Letterman’s long-delayed marriage to the mother of his now five year old son, whom had has been dating since 1986 and to whom he tied the knot only this year.
 
So he treated his assistants well, paid for his first assistant's schooling, didnt send the boys in the office flowers, and may have had something going on with his first...... meh
 
U2Girl1978 said:
I cringed when the audience laughed throughout the whole thing. I mean, really???
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If you notice, he kept saying that he was being accused of doing "creepy things", which got the laughs. When he finally stated that he had had sex with women that work on the show, the crowd fell silent, with the exception of one person's groan. Immediately afterward he said something like, "I know what you're thinking, 'Darn it, Dave had sex!'" which also got the crowd laughing again.
 
U2Girl1978 said:
I know that he made some jokes but he was trying to be serious at some parts and people were laughing. :shrug:

And listen people make mistakes. Noone is perfect. I swear some people act all high and mighty like they've never made bad decisions in their life.
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Its probably just that people in the studio are conditioned to laugh and not expect too much serious business. I'm sure in any other situation, they'd act differently. I can see where you're coming from though
 
Legal Experts Discuss Possible Sexual Harrassment Claims

"The problem for Worldwide Pants and Letterman is that ... it's quite possible that there are employees who were not aware that David Letterman was engaged in sexual behavior with ... staff members and, under sexual harassment law, there is a claim for sexual harassment, somebody can come forward and say. 'The boss was sleeping with other employees, they got favors and advantages that I didn't get.' They got to appear on the show, perhaps, for example. Got additional payments for that.

"So, this is why every company in the United States has a policy that an employer should not be having sexual relations with a subordinate, because it has the potential to create a hostile work environment. "
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Will "Other Shoes Drop" For Letterman? - The Early Show - CBS News
 
U2Girl1978 said:
I cringed when the audience laughed throughout the whole thing. I mean, really???
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http://www.freep.com/article/20091003/COL35/910030330/1318/

Letterman's behavior nothing to laugh at

David Letterman crossed a line he shouldn't have, and it isn't funny.

The TV audience laughed after Letterman, with rubber-faced expression, admitted he "had sex with women who work for me on the show."

"My response to that is, 'Yes, I have,' " deadpanned Letterman.

The audience even clapped.

But let's stop laughing.

Some may say the rules of professionalism are different in the entertainment industry, where costars frequently fall in love with their on-screen mates or the folks behind the camera, but that excuse doesn't cut it here.

Letterman is the chairman and the man who owns the company that produces his show. He's a boss. And bosses are asking for bottom-line trouble when they have sex with their subordinates.

These unnamed employees worked "for" Letterman, not just "with" him.

It's creepy -- a word Letterman himself used with disturbing effect as he described the extortion plot hatched against him -- when bosses bed their employees. After Letterman testified about the blackmail attempt to a New York grand jury, a CBS employee was arrested and charged this week with attempting to extort $2 million from the comedian. He pleaded not guilty.

Business undermined

Even if Letterman had consensual relationships with subordinates, his behavior raises several issues.

Whether he's a celebrity or not, it remains a situation in which a person has a powerful position over somebody at the workplace and raises the question of whether that position is being leveraged for sex.

Deborah Gordon, a local attorney who specializes in sex discrimination and harassment cases, was stunned by Letterman's on-screen demeanor.

"He makes light of it -- like what's the thing that I've done that is so creepy? I had sex with women who work for me. Ha. Ha. Ha. No big deal," Gordon said.

The fact that Letterman admitted he had sex with multiple women in the workplace "sends up a warning signal," Gordon said. It suggests a pattern of behavior and hints of a workplace where such affairs with the boss might be part of the expected job duties.

It undermines the whole operation. It raises questions of whether women at Letterman's office are being hired with sex in mind, and if there are repercussions for refusing an advance or after an affair has run its course.

At press time, no women had come forward claiming they suffered sexual harassment from Letterman. And legal experts say sexual advances have to be unwelcome to support a lawsuit. But having sex with subordinates is grounds for dismissal in corporate America, and there are bountiful reasons why companies harp on management to keep sexual affairs out of the office.

Consider this: When an employee brought a sexual harassment suit against Isiah Thomas, the former Detroit Pistons basketball star who was an executive with the New York Knicks, a New York jury returned an $11.6-million verdict against the Knicks' parent organization.

Arrogance on display

Letterman's viewers are programmed to laugh at what he says.

But in his attempt at humor, Gordon saw the spin.

"There is a lot of arrogance in these situations, and he seemed to have a very arrogant attitude -- like naturally I have sex with anybody in the job, like who doesn't," Gordon said. "That I found very offensive."

The owner of Worldwide Pants Inc. got caught with his pants down, and it's going to haunt him personally and professionally for some time to come.
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"There is a lot of arrogance in these situations, and he seemed to have a very arrogant attitude -- like naturally I have sex with anybody in the job, like who doesn't," Gordon said. "That I found very offensive."
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I don't agree with that at all. I thought Letterman's tone seemed pretty serious when admitting to the sexual relationships - he certainly didn't seem to be flippant or relaxed about it. To me, it seemed that he was a bit confused and annoyed by the audience's laughter.
 
I'm sure they didn't know what to think either. It was unexpected. Perhaps he could have prefaced it by... "On a serious note..."
 
Diemen said:
I don't agree with that at all. I thought Letterman's tone seemed pretty serious when admitting to the sexual relationships - he certainly didn't seem to be flippant or relaxed about it. To me, it seemed that he was a bit confused and annoyed by the audience's laughter.
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I agree with you, and I think that people are conditioned to see what they want to see. As an attorney who specializes in sexual harassment cases, she was probably looking for arrogance, whether it was there or not.

coolian2 said:
i still cringe thinking of the audience laughing...it's just staggering.
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I think that what JiveTurkey and Lila said is true, it was a bizarre, unexpected confession, and in that setting, people are conditioned to laugh, and maybe for a while into it thought that Dave was doing a comedy bit.


Not to minimize the seriousness of sexual harassment in the workplace, but this really doesn't sound like anything of the sort to me. I've read reports where Birkitt has praised him as a person and as an employer. So he had multiple affairs. :shrug: I honestly think that entertainers or people in positions of power who don't have affairs are probably the exception. And I really don't think it's a huge surprise that he'd solicit partners in the workplace - his current wife, and a previous long term partner before that were both women who had worked on his show.
 
VintagePunk said:
I think that what JiveTurkey and Lila said is true, it was a bizarre, unexpected confession, and in that setting, people are conditioned to laugh, and maybe for a while into it thought that Dave was doing a comedy bit.
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Agreed. I would love to see an audience shot for that moment. Laughter, and then I would guess a quick realization spreading across everyone's faces. " ... wait, what?"
 
I watch Letterman quite a lot and don't think any differently of Dave after this news. I just wish stuff like this wasn't made into such a huge issue just because it involves celebrities.
 
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