Now there's word out that Stephanie Birkitt, a former Daivd Letterman staffer with whom the Late Night host has apparently been carrying on a fling for some time, has written a slew of saucy letters, as of now not yet sent, which might contain salacious details of the affair between her and her boss.
These, along with an alleged diary, might well be the letters alluded to in the blackmail plot by former CBS "award winning producer" Joe Haldermann, who demanded two million dollars in order that he keep secret his knowledge of this affair-and perhaps a good many others.
Haldermann has plead not guilty to the charge of attempted grand larceny. I can almost guess at his defense. "Hey, I just told him I could make three million off these things if I took them to the Enquirer, I was just being a nice guy by helping him and me out."
And, who knows? It might work. Of course, he's got one legal hurdle to cross. According to this report, Haldermann cared far more about hurting Letterman than he cared about the money. He was jealous of Letterman's relationship with Birkitt, which evidently was on-going well after she and Haldermann broke up. But, seeing as how Haldermann had his own slate of financial problems, I'm sure the money came in a close second, at least.
Haldermann, however you read him, may not be in as much trouble as Letterman, all things considered. This is all out in the open now. Or is it? There have been others besides Birkitt. A lot more. Most of them are younger women, and junior staffers on Letterman's program. He was their boss.
Thus, the man who skewered Bill Clinton, Elliot Spitzer, and Gary Hart for the same kind of behavior now at the very least looks like an unbounded hypocrite. But this is the least of his potential problems.
This could open up a veritable floodgate or sexual harassment charges, and even potentially rape. Although much less likely, it is possible that child molestation charges might be filed if any of the older women Dave had affairs with (there was at least one who was close to his age)had younger teenage daughters he might have had contact with.
Look for Stephanie Birkitt's letters to eventually find their way into the domain of the tabloid press, probably after the inevitable judicial gag rules have served their purpose.
It's going to be one embarassing mess after another. Look for some wag to come out with a "Letterman's Top Ten" list.
The man is sixty-one years old. Letterman can joke about this now, but the joke is going to leave a bad taste eventually, one that will never completely go away. Maybe it's time for him to just ride off into the sunset.
5 comments:
Rape and sexual harrasment? Really? Because David Letterman and his subordinate decided to have sex with each other? Doesn't that sound like the sort of feminist hysteria that you hear whenever people sleep with anyone they work with? Oh, the "powerful male" and his oppressive, patriarchal penis! Oh, she didn't really want to have sex, but his "position of authority" practically forced her to! Sure.
Don't people sometimes just fuck without thinking? Sure, he's a hypocrite for making fun of those other poweful people who fucked without thinking, unless of course, if he's now cool with people making fun of him! But, honestly, I think it's generally silly to give a shit when two grown adults fuck when they probably shouldn't have. It's been going on for thousands of years and will go on for thousands of years from now. People quite often fuck first and think later.
All true, but my point is, he is now open, maybe, to charges that he used coercive tactics to have sex with these women. If there weren't so many of them, it probably wouldn't be that big a deal. But evidently, there were a lot of them, most of them subordinate to him and dependent on him for their livelihoods.
All it would take is for one of them to file a complaint that he threatened to fire her, and even add that he told her he would make sure she would never work in the industry again. It doesn't matter whether or not it's the truth or an outright lie. All it would take would be one, and it could open the floodgates. From the sound of things, there is a potential class action lawsuit here.
It would ruin him, personally and maybe even financially, regardless of the outcome of any such suit.
Letterman is getting praise for undercutting the blackmailer.
I'm not following this closely. You might be jumping to conclusions. Your best writing, is when you don't stray from what you know for sure. On a blog you can think out loud.
Ren, I read tarot cards and do astrology readings, and other forms of magic and divination. It's second nature for me to speculate and theorize.
I admit, I am constantly perplexed by the endless fascination people have for the sex lives of other people. I pretty much don't CARE so long as the people are consenting adults. I think workplace romances involving superiors are bad ideas for some of the very reasons listed, but the public hoopla? Yeah, boring.
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