I must say that I am not really getting the PR strategy behind having David Letterman announce the specific, wildly distasteful details of the whole extortion/infidelity thing DURING his show.
I understand that his PR people were attempting to preempt the media feeding frenzy that was bound to erupt today by having him put it all out there first. I’m sure their thinking was that if the celebrity subject of controversy admits right up front and fairly specifically to the behaviors that are the subject of the controversy, he’s effectively obviated aggressive “investigative reporting” into the matter by the National Enquirer et al. (Call this the “What Have We Learned From John Edwards’ PR mistakes” approach.)
But doing it on his show like that was awkward, tacky and just plain bizarre. It disrespected his audience, who tuned in to relax at the end of a long work day, but who were then rudely and without warning jolted into full wakefulness with this weird, TMI confession about unpleasant aspects of Letterman’s sex life. (Really, no one …NO ONE – no matter how huge a Letterman fan – wants to think about David Letterman having sex, at all, ever, with anyone. )
If I were Letterman’s publicist, I think I would have instead advised pushing out a carefully worded, first-person statement to the media yesterday, offering a more general, yet still clear acknowledgement of his transgressions, followed by a basic mea culpa, and wrapped up with your standard (yet effective) “my attorneys advise me that I should not address this matter further or more specifically, so this is the last you will hear from me about it…”
It’s quite possible that his lawyers, publicist and network execs had no idea he planned to do overshare in the middle of his monologue. I say that it’s possible because that seemed like such an ill-advised way to handle the matter. But if someone did recommend to him that he should spill his guts on-air like that, I’d love to know what their strategic rationale was.
My prediction is that the other shoe hasn’t yet dropped with this story. Why? Because it seems unlikely to me that someone with a relatively high level of experience working in national television and media (the alleged extortionist is reported to be an accomplished network TV news producer) would believe that he could succeed in a high-dollar extortion attempt if the behaviors targeted for blackmail were just general, run of the mill, super-famous-middle-aged-guy-cheating-on-his-wife type stuff. And in fact, Letterman wasn’t even actually married until less than a year ago.
Yep, I’m thinking the worst may be yet to come for Mr. Letterman’s reputation. I hope not, for the sake of his wife, his child and for the people whose jobs depend on his continued ability to draw advertisers. But if there is yet more wrongdoing that David Letterman needs to get off his chest, I sure hope he won’t deal with it by suddenly broadcasting the video evidence in the middle of his monologue.
10 Responses to “If I were David Letterman’s publicist….”
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ughh.
It seems like all men are dogs lately.
(I know that’s overgeneralizing, but seriously; the richer they are the less they can keep it in their pants.)
It’s been resolved in the courts and in the past so I think he was clever to diffuse the whole thing by trivializing the extortionist, and poking fun at the guy who tried to get away with this.
The situation seems pretty straight forward, in 2003 Letterman was having an affair with a women who worked for him, this was before he was married or had a child. Nothing exceptional about that.
The women was Stephanie, she was living with her boyfriend at the time Joe (now know as the extortionist)he found her diary and that was the proof he was going to expose.
I gotta say I disagree. Not about hearing about Dave Letterman’s sex life. I definitely agree that NO ONE wants to hear about that. But I think his monologue/confession came off about as well as possible. I mean really, no matter what he looks like a complete goon (or dog as a previous commenter states). I obviously don’t condone this type of action, but I think it is always more respectable when the actions are owned up to quickly and directly. For all the crazy things Letterman said, I think it was the least-bad way of disclosing this type of disappointment to his loyal viewers.
Thanks for the read Katie!
@nlawhead
I don’t know why anyone would be “disappointed” in Letterman about this. He’s never been an icon of any kind of purity or whatnot. But his handling of being blackmailed is stellar. Pull the rug out right out from under the extortionist. By airing it on his show first, Letterman retains ownership of his indiscretion.
I agree. It wasn’t an appropriate setting for it. He could have appeared on a newscast or The Early Show or simply issued a statement through his publicist or attorney (probably the best choice). Maybe it entertained us, but it was over-the-top bizarre. I, too, wouldn’t be surprised if there’s more to come. I’m a great believer in maximum disclosure with minimum delay, but you can choose the stage for doing it.
I like the way he took responsibilty….which we keep telling celebs & political figures we want. “YES! I slept with that woman.” Many fans probably were shocked and not expecting a dose of UGLY last night but David got to tell the story first. He took a stand that he won’t pay anyone who thinks this could profit them in some way. The live audience can say they were there when David spilled the beans. I bet all Hollywood & Washington are loving the way he handled this! Any would-be-extortionists out there may think again.
He may have more trouble to come – there does seem to be a “what’s the big deal” slant to the story. He slept with women before he was married- why is that news? Unless he misused the power of his position or was diviant in some way his fans or sponsors might find too far out there. Could it be …this was the reason he took so long to get married?
What I find interesting is that your blog is the first I’ve heard of any of this.
I feel badly for the folks who were there live in the studio when he started playing the TMI game. They actually laughed at the admission that Letterman had sex with his employees–y’know sexually harassed them, or at least engaged in some serious ickiness given his position of authority over them. I think (and hope) that the laughter was kind of a reaction that “this is the monologue, this is where we laugh,” rather than the audience actually finding the idea hillarious. What an awkward moment.
Dave has been in a long-term relationship with the woman he married. Even though the affairs happened before he married her, maybe the extortionist was hoping that the ‘big deal’ would be that he would not want his wife to know he had these relationships while he was involved with her, even though it was before they got married. Just guessin’—
His wife might leave him. Maybe she’s already kicked him. He was sleeping with this woman last year. The one who was living with the extortionist. It doesn’t sound like David Letterman had a PR plan. He doesn’t work for CBS. He owns the production company, World Wide Pants. It’s helping ratings. I feel for his wife, but so many super successful men, in and out of the entertainment industry, do this sort of thing, it is hardly shocking. It doesn’t make it right, but I was not in the least bit surprised.