David Letterman extortion plot foiled
Image from Wikimedia.
Often people try to make a long story short, but David Letterman made a short story long last night on his show when he talked about the David Letterman extortion. Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau identified today the man who tried to blackmail David Letterman.
The alleged extortionist is CBS producer Robert “Joe” Halderman, and I am guessing now that he’s been named in People magazine and the entire David-Letterman-watching public heard the whole story last night, it’ll be a short trial.
David Letterman on David Letterman
David Letterman makes a lot of money and probably gets the best personal loan rates available, but when he got a package with a letter detailing the secrets someone would share if he didn’t get $2 million, David Letterman was none too pleased. Well, clearly keeping his secrets was not worth $2 million to David Letterman because he told those secrets on national television.
I watched the video from last night’s show in which the David Letterman extortion is covered by none other than David Letterman on “The Late Show with David Letterman.” Clearly, the audience was enthralled and entertained by his story, which was punctuated by plenty of laughter, but there is something about turning a story about having sex with women he works with into a 10-minute comedic monologue that really rubs me the wrong way.
When did infidelity become funny?
You see, if it weren’t for the fact that David Letterman has been in a relationship with Regina Lasko, his wife and the mother of his son, since 1989, I think I would have found it a lot more funny. Clearly these sexual relationships with his coworkers happened while he and Regina were together, otherwise why would this revelation be blackmail worthy?
So what I want to know is what is funny about cheating on your partner? And in general, when did infidelity become a huge component of the entertainment industry in general? I feel like I can’t watch a television show or movie anymore that doesn’t have some kind of infidelity going on it it, and I feel like the subject is taken very lightly on the big and small screen nowadays. Am I a prude for thinking this is wrong?
I’m not judging David Letterman. Perhaps he and Regina had some kind of open relationship or they were “on a break” or something. But it bugs me that he turned the subject into a big joke.
