Letterman: Will his popularity suffer?

Who cares?” said Mary Elizabeth Williams in Salon.com. Late Show host David Letterman made a surreal admission on his show last week that he has had a string of affairs with young female employees, and that one of them had a bitter ex-boyfriend who recently tried to blackmail him for $2 million. Letterman’s confession may now be the talk of the nation, and it may be inspiring open schadenfreude among conservatives angered by Letterman’s recent barbed put-downs of Sarah Palin’s family. But Letterman, a 62-year-old married father of a 6-year-old boy, recently became the clear ratings champ in the late-night slot, and the idea that this misstep will be fatal to his career is ridiculous. Letterman is an entertainer, not an elected official, said Mike Lupica in the New York Daily News. “Who knows?” These lurid revelations about the private life of our most private celebrity may even be good for Letterman’s ratings.

Sorry, but I don’t find this entertaining, said Patricia Montemurri in the Detroit Free Press. As Letterman himself admitted, his behavior with subordinates was “creepy.” Under state and federal law, “bosses are asking for bottom-line trouble when they have sex with subordinates.” Last week’s admission leaves him open not only to sexual-harassment lawsuits from the women he slept with, but discrimination lawsuits from the women, and men, who didn’t. I talked to one woman who used to work for Letterman, said Andrea Peyser in the New York Post, and she said his staff was well aware that young women who flirted with him—and in some cases, slept with him—would be rewarded. CBS should put “depraved Dave” out to pasture when his contract expires next year.

Letterman will probably keep his show, said John Friedman in Marketwatch.com, but whether his act can survive is another matter. Letterman likes to portray himself as “the thinking man’s comedian,” not just some smart-ass “who spews one-liners.” Can he still make fun of politicians and other celebrities caught in “embarrassing or morally questionable predicaments” now that he’s been caught in one of his own? Consider who’s watching his show, said David Bauder in the Associated Press. Nielsen ratings show that 58 percent of his viewers are female, with an average age of 54. Is it possible, do you think, that these viewers might find the gray-haired comedian with a taste for young female staffers just a little less amusing than he used to be?

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