David Letterman makes rape joke about Palin's 14 year old daughter, crowd cheers

@Taskr36 (13963)
United States
June 10, 2009 12:12pm CST
Clearly there is no limit to how foul and disgusting some on the left will be. Last night David Letterman seemed very pleased with himself as he joked about Sarah Palin and her 14 year old daughter Willow attending a baseball game where he said "maybe you saw it on the highlight reels, in the 7th inning her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez." His ilberal crowd of course roared with laughter for 16 seconds straight and then resumed their laughter after he said "You can see how that'd be awkward. http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/06/09/letterman-jokes-about-the-statutory-rape-of-14-year-old-willow-palin-funny/ Of course NOT ONE major media outlet is reporting on this. As far as I know Bill O'Reilly was the only person to mention this on any network. IT's foul and it's disgusting and yet an entire audience cheered. Watch the video and you won't hear any boos at all. What would the reaction have been if someone said this about one of Obama's daughters? I've heard how Rush Limbaugh was a despicable human being for insulting Chelsea Clinton's appearance (which I agree was wrong), and yet nobody is criticizing a man who makes jokes about the statutory rape of a 14 year old girl. Funny how such behavior is completely acceptable to the left when the target is the daughter of a Republican. I guess it's really Sarah Palin's fault for bringing her daughter to a baseball game in the first place. We've heard that kind of excuse before.
8 people like this
22 responses
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
10 Jun 09
Please show me proof that Letterman was referring to Palin's 14 year old daughter Willow! I heard that remark while flipping through the channels the other night and I assumed, as I'm sure MOST people did, he was talking about Bristol. From what I've seen and read it seems Sarah was most miffed about Letterman's "Top 10" entry about her "slu++y flight attendant look". "Pretty pathetic" is what she called him. It seems that the right really has no sense of humor at all if it involves one of their own! Palin is in the public eye by her own choice so she's going to have to get used to taking her turn as the objects of late night comedy jokes. IF anyone ever made a joke about the RAPE of any minor I'd be the first one to complain but this was NOT. By the way I'm not a particular fan of David Letterman. He's "OK" but I was more of a regular Tonight Show viewer and Jay Leno fan so now I'm a channel surfer if I'm watching TV at that time. Annie
1 person likes this
• United States
10 Jun 09
i didn't see the show, nor have i heard anything of this until i saw this post. from what i can gleen, i agree with the above, anniepa. if palin did not want to be a media target, she should not have become a politician. the right seems to think they can have it both ways, be in the public eye, but never be the target of the media and it's personalities. i DO NOT think that rape in any way, shape or form is acceptable. the statement appears to be in bad taste. the most gracious way to handle bad taste is to ignore it. even if others are responding, just let it flow past. by calling attention to this, the left is likely to keep it going longer than it would if they had just ignored it all. ok, now i have to give in to my silly, childish, liberal, left wing sensibilities. sarah palin is such a joke, how can we avoid making fun of her and hers? please.....
2 people like this
@xfahctor (14118)
• Lancaster, New Hampshire
11 Jun 09
Annie, does it really matter which daughter he was refering to? It was tasteless and disgusting either way. It was a way over the line comment about someone's daughter.
1 person likes this
@irishidid (8687)
• United States
10 Jun 09
So that makes it fine to make virtually any kind of comments/jokes,etc. about Obama and his family because he's a politician. Thanks for the heads up flying.
1 person likes this
@Destiny007 (5805)
• United States
11 Jun 09
It just further demonstrates how pathetic and perverted the liberals really are. Yet they falsely try to claim their moral and intellectual superiority while constantly proving the liberalism is indeed a mental illness.
1 person likes this
@miamilady (4910)
• United States
11 Jun 09
Really? It's ONLY LIBERALS that are pathetic peverts? I sincerely doubt that.
1 person likes this
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
11 Jun 09
Flyinglove, you've made it clear that you think attacks like this on children are appropriate so yes, you are a pervert.
• United States
11 Jun 09
i'm liberal and i am not a pervert. however, i may be pathetic. that is a matter of opinion. and i know many people, both liberal and conservative that are pathetic in my view. it goes both ways.
• United States
10 Jun 09
I agree with you, it's disgusting and there is nothing funny about statutory rape of a 14 year old girl - anyone who thinks it's funny is probably a closet pedophile. Idiots and hypocrites, all of them.
1 person likes this
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
10 Jun 09
Well according to Annie those of us on the right just don't have any sense of humor. I guess we're just not as special as those on the left who can laugh heartily at jokes about child rape. I wonder how people would have reacted if this joke had been made about one of Obama's daughters.
1 person likes this
@JodiLynn (1417)
• United States
10 Jun 09
Does anyone recall the mass sexualization of a young Disney star, Britney Spears? that was okay to do, because she wasn't a politicians child...right?
1 person likes this
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
11 Jun 09
She's just trying to change the subject in an attempt to justify the perverted attacks on Willow Palin.
1 person likes this
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
10 Jun 09
That is not even remotely similar and I'm pretty sure everyone but you knows that. Mind showing me where David Letterman made jokes about her being raped at a baseball game?
1 person likes this
@xfahctor (14118)
• Lancaster, New Hampshire
11 Jun 09
"Does anyone recall the mass sexualization of a young Disney star, Britney Spears?" yes, it was disgusting, why would you assume anyone would find that ok?
1 person likes this
@JodiLynn (1417)
• United States
10 Jun 09
I read the transcripts, and nowhere does it imply that letterman said Willow was or will be "raped". the legal age of consent in Alaska is THIRTEEN. Of course this is not nearly as "funny" to the right wingers as those that wage a smear campaign against the Obama girls, who really are just babies, comparatively.
1 person likes this
@irishidid (8687)
• United States
10 Jun 09
http://blog.laborlawtalk.com/2006/11/07/alaska-age-of-consent-laws/ http://www.ageofconsent.us/ A search for smears against Obama daughters resulted in zero hits directly referring to them.
1 person likes this
@coolcoder (2018)
• United States
10 Jun 09
Where have you heard anything rude being said about Obama's children? I haven't heard a thing about that, from either the left or the right.
1 person likes this
@xfahctor (14118)
• Lancaster, New Hampshire
11 Jun 09
what difference does it make which daughter it was anyway??? fer real, what difference is it?
1 person likes this
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
18 Jun 09
Well, Letterman apologized. Sarah Palin got on national TV and called him out....funny how the media were told to leave the Obama family out of all stories on him...and they did his bidding..but Sarah Palin's daughter became fair game during the campaign. It is terribly wrong what letterman said...and we fired Imus for his irreverency...why not mr. letterman?
1 person likes this
@heathcliff (1415)
• United States
11 Jun 09
It is only excuseable in the sense that America has insensitized its collective sense of humor. This isn't the first time I've cringed at Letterman. It really isn't news that he tried a joke this insensitive, but what bothers me is that the audienced seemed to laugh without thinking. Did the "LAUGH NOW" sign go up or something? Insensitive jokes are going to pop out of some of us sometimes (been there, done that), but we have to know when to apologize and in his case, when to reconsider (I'm sure SOMEONE in writing/rehearsal said something about it).
@sid556 (30959)
• United States
11 Jun 09
I didn't hear limaughs comments but I know Sat. Nite Live did a clip on Chelsey and got really critisized for it. I don't watch Letterman but making fun of any kid for any reason and especially something like this is pretty sick and so are the ones that laugh at it.
1 person likes this
@irishidid (8687)
• United States
10 Jun 09
It was inappropriate and despite the fact that some are claiming he really meant Bristol, that doesn't make it any less inappropriate.
1 person likes this
• United States
11 Jun 09
In all cases it is degrading and horrific when a young child at a minor age has been sexually assaulted and rape by an older adult. For this man such as David Letterman and for the crowd to laugh and applaud shows that this world is cold. Yet everytime you turn on the news you hear about young children are being kidnapped, abducted, raped, molested and murdered. It's gruesome and cruel. There's nothing funny about that. I see it though that this creates a bad karma on Letterman and I'm sure this statement he made won't be ignored, but dealt with by the media and press.
1 person likes this
@Barb42 (4214)
• United States
12 Jun 09
David Letterman is not the man he used to be! I used to love to watch him years ago. But now, I'd not even turn the channel to hear him! The joke was terrible. AND, not only that, when he supposedly made an apology (not my kind of apology!), he said he wasn't talking about her 14 year old but her older girl. Sure - that wasn't the girl with her at the game. It was indeed her younger daughter! This man is sick! And I'm happy to know that Sarah Palin will never go on his show to help his ratings!
@reckon21 (3479)
• Philippines
11 Jun 09
When a girl as young as Palin's daughter who is only 14 years old. Then the horrible joke is aired on national tv and the audience just laugh. There must be something wrong with their minds.
@bestboy19 (5478)
• United States
15 Jun 09
I'd like to know how Alex Rodriguez felt about the comment. Was he laughing as loudly as Letterman's audience?
1 person likes this
@coolcoder (2018)
• United States
10 Jun 09
Bill O'Reilly wasn't the only one talking about this. I was listening to Rush this morning and he played the sound clip of Letterman's "joke" and the inane cheering of the audience. It was totally disgusting and totally classless. I know it's too much to ask to boycott Letterman, but it's a nice thought, nevertheless.
1 person likes this
@gewcew23 (8007)
• United States
10 Jun 09
Taskr I just read from a member of the MyLot left that Republican want to kill all union members, and business owner want to kill their employees too so this does not surprise me. What does surprise me is that this is accepted behavior, mainstream if you will as long as it is a liberal assaulting a conservative.
1 person likes this
@bobmnu (8157)
• United States
10 Jun 09
I guess I will write to CBS and start my boycott of the network. I did it with NBC and have not watched that network in over a year over the despicable coverage of President Bush. If CBS feels this is what they want on their network then they don't need my viewership. If enough people do this they will get the message. There is a risk in doing this as Homeland Security may consider this a terrorist risk and put you on their watch list.
1 person likes this
• Canada
27 Aug 09
I am extremely liberal, and I think that joke was disgusting. I don't think it should be called a joke at all, and I think that people laughed because of the sensationalism that's in it, not because "right is good, left is bad." Please don't judge the left by the actions of people who would sit in an audience for what I consider to be a show on the same level as the tabloids.
@miamilady (4910)
• United States
11 Jun 09
Are you offended by ALL derogatory jokes directed at women and girls or just when they are directed at the ones who are on the "right wing" side of things? It sounds like his joke was inappropriate (didn't see the clip but don't need to) and would be inappropriate no matter WHO the 14 year old girl might have been. I don't watch Letterman often, so I don't know if this type of joke is common for him or not. I've seen his show sometimes and I do know that he's definitely makes some "edgy" jokes. I think the question of "where should we draw the line" on jokes will always be open for debate. I am guessing that whoever wrote the joke (does letterman write his own material?) wasn't thinking of the "statutory rape" angle. That's something that either you noticed or someone who you read or watch pointed out. As for the audience...sometimes people are quick to react to a joke without actually thinking it through. Has Letterman been confronted about this joke? Did he have any comments?
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
11 Jun 09
"Are you offended by ALL derogatory jokes directed at women and girls" Of course I am, ESPECIALLY when it's a child. My point is that this was considered acceptable from the left because it was Sarah Palin's daughter. "It sounds like his joke was inappropriate (didn't see the clip but don't need to) and would be inappropriate no matter WHO the 14 year old girl might have been." Absolutely. I'm glad we agree on that. "sometimes people are quick to react to a joke without actually thinking it through" That may be true, but the laughter lasted a VERY long time, and resumed after he followed up with "you can see how that'd be awkward". Compare that to when Wanda Sykes made her joke about wanting Rush Limbaugh's kidneys to fail. Some laughed but the boos started very quickly when people realized what she'd said. There was not a single boo heard from Letterman's crowd. "Has Letterman been confronted about this joke?" According to Fox News "A representative for “The Late Show” declined to offer comment for this story." http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,525724,00.html
1 person likes this
@miamilady (4910)
• United States
11 Jun 09
So which do you think will do more damage to her daughter. Letterman's joke or the Republicans dragging this out indefinitely and replaying it OVER and OVER again so that she has to keep hearing it over and over again. YES it was tasteless. NO he probably didn't think it through. He probably didn't think of the "rape" angle. Yes even if we didn't throw the "Rape" angel into it it would still be tasteless. ALL night ime talk show hosts tell tasteless jokes about politicians and their families. I'm sure this was done to EVERY presidents daughter at one time or another...pr presidential candidates daughter. Unfortunately when you choose to put yourself AND your family in the public eye like that, it's going to happen! Does it make it right? NO, but those are the facts ma'am. If you don't want your family to be under public scrutiny don't run for public office. If Ms. Palin had something to say (which she did) good for her. She said something about his other joke. She has a right to do so. She has a right to be disgusted, and offended, but she also knows it comes with the territory. I think needs to and probably has put her "big girl panties" on and unfortunately her daughter is going to have to do the same. One of the consequences of getting pregnant at a young age is that you will be called names. It happens every day in high schools across the nation. The difference here is that,unfortunately for her. Her criticism in on a national level. Dave, shame on you! Now, how long are we going to give his tasteless joke attention? Maybe instead of making this about dems and republicans or about late night comedians, maybe we could use this to start talking about how society in general thinks that it's okay to make these types of comments about ALL GIRLS who find themselves in the same unfortunate circumstances.
1 person likes this
@miamilady (4910)
• United States
11 Jun 09
Taskr. You twisted and nitpicked through my words as you did with Annies.You also put words into my mouth. I'd go back line by line over what you said and explain where you did that, but it truly is a waste of time arguing/debating (whatever you want to call it) with you, sometimes. You just put those blinders on and bulldoze your way through these discussions. annie and I BOTH said we didn't like his joke. Just because we aren't in 100% agreement with your opinion doesn't mean we think his joke was funny.
1 person likes this
• United States
14 Jun 09
I don't understand why anyone watches Letterman anyway whether he insults people on the right or not. He just simply is not funny, plus he's not pleasant to look at either. As far as the audience laughing, those are people who laugh because they think they're suppose to. Let's face it, most of the comedians today are not funny, they're just scuzzy.
• United States
13 Jun 09
liberal or not that is still sick... I may not like or Respect Palin but, seriously, it's no laughing matter. especially when he harasses a minor. NOT A LIBERAL THING, JUST A STUPIDITY THING.