Saturday, October 3, 2009

And The Number One Most Awkward TV Moment ...

DAVID LETTERMAN ANNOUNCED on his show that he was being extorted by someone threatening to to go public with details of Letterman's sex life. The event caused quite a stir, and has become fodder for journalists of every medium.

Is it news? Is he controlling the message? Are the journalists asking the right questions, or are they missing something?

10 comments:

Don Hoegg said...

Journalists don't need to ask any questions. This isn't news- it's voyeurism.

Sina Snoeu said...

I think it became news due to the unexpected way that Letterman chose to announce it. He is definitely controlling the message, his own message. He didn't give into Halderman's plan of blackmail in exchange for about 2 million dollars. Risk-ay. But instead of hiding it, Letterman decided he might as well be the one to drop the bomb in order to control the explosion. In the oddest way I admire him ONLY in the sense that he came out and spoke of it without allowing anyone else to make a field day of it first.

Wafai Dias said...

Yes, this is news because he's having sex with his co-workers. It's of our human interest to gain knowledge about people that neglect their power. He is controlling the message which is the best thing he can do instead of giving it to journalists hands and letting them report 1000 different stories. He gave them this one story and now they have to find out information from the co-workers to get the other side of the story. I think Journalist need to ask more questions because what they ask just isn't good enough because they're always missing something.

Michelle Zei said...

Hm. This is pretty crazy we don't often hear about celebrities being so up front with situations like this. In a way it is respectable but perhaps it's not news. I think since it's his show it's okay he took the opportunity to address this and of course the message is controlled.

Hollis Magee said...

I don't think this is necessarily news but because celebrities are always exploited for mishaps - I think it was smart of Letterman to semi-address the situation on his show. Yes, I think he controlled the message but I think that was smart of him to do. If he hadn't addressed the situation and hid this from his viewers - they would have eventually found out one way or another through leaked media and then they would have been a lot more skeptical towards Letterman in the situation.

Lee Miller said...

Well, he's definitely trying to get out in front of this. If it was going to get out it makes sense. Let's him control the message, I doubt many people are going to read into the situation too deep.

Lisa Jiang said...

He definitely is controlling the message by telling the public what happened instead of letting the public find out for themselves and jumping to conclusions. I guess it is considered news because it involved a scandal and extortion.

Unknown said...

The plante has 6.6billion people and they didn't get here by self-love. Sex happens. I don't care who anyone sleeps with unless it is with me or directly affects me (ie: if my mother slept with a man besides my father; or my girlfriend slept with someone else). Besides that, it's no one's right to know who sleeps with who. White males in this country, can't have sex, can't use certain words, everyone is super PC, shouldn't have office romances, and it is going to lead to a class a closet racists perverts who move to Europe with their degrees.

People need to grow up and if Michael Phelps wants to smoke a bong cool, if Letterman wants to have relationships with women cool (hell I thought he was homosexual for years), and if someone politician wants to have a love tryst in Argentina then who are we to judge? Mainly our job is to report NOT to editorialize.

Anonymous said...

FELICIA TOPSALE SAID........I think David Letterman did a very smart thing. He decided to go to the authorities and make public what happened to him. He doesn't need to apologize to anyone. I have more respect for him now than ever. The extortion may be the consequence of his actions, but at least he handled it in a mature way.

E. Thomas Winter said...

I think David Letterman avoided the potential for this to become news in the future by controlling it now. If he were to pay the 2 million dollars, who is to say that Halderman does not still hold the power in this blackmail? Letterman did the only thing that he could in this situation and by owning up for his actions he avoided a possible embarrassment in the future. I personally respect the boldness and although he went about it in a sarcastic tone that confused the viewers on whether he was serious or not, I think he got done what was necessary for him to sleep at night in a more sound manner.