CBS Loses Hotel Advertiser Because of David Letterman’s Rape Joke: Boycott Working, Protest Planned Outside CBS Studio
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on June 15, 2009
CBS has lost one advertiser because of Letterman's sick rape joke... more sponsors are sure to follow
UPDATE, June 19, 2009:
Politico: Olive Garden backtracks on David Letterman ads
Olive Garden restaurant chain is denying that it canceled all of its scheduled ads on CBS late night comic David Letterman’s “Late Show”… strange turn of events now at Olive Garden; click to read updated story
Hope they enjoyed my email yesterday that thanked them and they would be our family’s first restaurant choice for dining out… gotta make time to email them back to say, “Just kidding.”
UPDATE, June 18, 2009: Olive Garden restaurants has just announced that the chain is pulling all of its Letterman Show ads for the rest of the year as a result of Letterman’s “knocked up” joke. Send them a thank-you email: click here.
UPDATE: David Letterman has apologized (I’m not counting last week’s non-apology apology) and Gov. Sarah Palin has accepted it. Excerpt from FOX News:
In a statement to FOXNews.com early Tuesday, the Alaska governor said, “Of course it’s accepted on behalf of young women, like my daughters, who hope men who ‘joke’ about public displays of sexual exploitation of girls will soon evolve.”
“Letterman certainly has the right to ‘joke’ about whatever he wants to, and thankfully we have the right to express our reaction,” Palin said. “This is all thanks to our U.S. Military women and men putting their lives on the line for us to secure America’s Right to Free Speech – in this case, may that right be used to promote equality and respect.”
Very gracious and classy. Unlike the numerous hate comments against the Palin family, mostly vulgar, profanity-laced insults against Sarah and Bristol, so many people tried to post here (what hate comments, you ask? Yeah, they were 86′d… live with it.) Palin is far nicer and more forgiving than I am. I find it impossible to accept his apology at face value. It looks more like damage control, trying to stop more sponsors from withdrawing their ad dollars, than sincere regret for maligning her daughters and other young women. Perverts usually are sorry… when they are caught. The only thing Letterman didn’t do in his first REAL apology was shed a few tears… crocodile tears.
Most people, myself included, feel Letterman’s snotty non-apology last week, followed by his sudden change of heart to offer a genuine apologize on the same day that Embassy Suites canceled their sponsorship on the CBS network, is no coincidence. Too little, too late. The NYC protest is still scheduled… I’ll be there in spirit, since I live in Arizona. Likely, not many people will be there (the show is taped much earlier in the day, and conservatives usually have jobs they must go to, rather than kick back and cherry-pick rallies and protests to attend).
~~~~~
Looks like the grassroots boycott website FireDavidLetterman.com is making progress with letters of boycott and protest from those who are angry about David Letterman’s vile rape joke about Sarah Palin’s 14-year-old daughter (and his other attacks on the Palin family).
Keep it up, folks! Advertiser dollars are CBS’s life’s blood. As well as Letterman’s. If no one will listen to reason and common decency, they will pay attention to profit losses, unless they’re morons.
If you live in the New York area, go to FireDavidLetterman.com for information on the protest that will be waged in front of CBS Studio.
SeattlePi, Letterman’s Palin Joke Costs CBS an Advertiser, Spawns Campaign for His Firing
By Tim Malloy | TV Guide
David Letterman’s comments about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and one of her daughters has prompted a hotel chain to pull its advertising on CBS’ website — and spawned a campaign to fire the Late Show host that includes a planned protest outside his studio.
Embassy Suites, part of the Hilton Hotels Corp., pulled advertising on CBS’ site because of complaints, company spokeswoman Kendra Walker told TVGuide.com. The company was not an advertiser on Letterman’s show.
“We received lots of e-mails from concerned guests and we assessed that the statement that he made was offensive enough to our guests and prospective guests that we elected to take the ads down,” Walker said. She declined to release the cost of the ads.
CBS declined to comment Tuesday.
Letterman joked last week about Palin’s daughter being “knocked up” by Alex Rodriguez during a New York Yankees game. He later clarified that he was referring to 18-year-old Bristol Palin — who, he said “was knocked up.” But the Palin family and Letterman critics said he was referring to the governor’s 14-year-old daughter, Willow, who attended the Yankees game with her mother.
“It’s a disgraceful comment and it needs to be stopped,” said Michael Patrick Leahy, one of the organizers of the “Fire David Letterman” campaign. “It is totally inappropriate and disgraceful for a 62-year-old man to sexually insult a 14-year-old girl, period. These comments are more egregious than those of Don Imus, and CBS fired him for those comments.”
Leahy, who also helped organize the anti-tax “tea parties” in cities across the country earlier this year, estimated anywhere from 50 to 300 people would attend a protest planned outside Letterman’s studio in New York City on Tuesday.
The campaign has also urged advertisers, including Embassy Suites, to pull their ads.
From New York Times:
…The issue has been seized upon by supporters of Ms. Palin who have called for everything from a boycott of Mr. Letterman’s advertisers to his outright firing. They have planned a rally for the Tuesday at Mr. Letterman’s theater on Broadway in Manhattan.
Some media commentators said that Mr. Letterman was keeping the controversy alive for the sake of ratings, but he seemed to make a special effort Monday to get the apology right. He even taped it a second time after he mistakenly referred to Bristol Palin once as “Brooke” in the first effort.
CBS executives said Monday that they had exercised no pressure on the late-night star to offer any apology and that they had seen no real impact on advertisers from the protests.
One advertiser, Embassy Suites Hotels, sent word to Ms. Palin’s supporters that they had ceased advertising on CBS’s website and did not want to be associated in any way with Mr. Letterman’s comments.
Now we just need to do the same against Bill Maher’s HBO show. He and Letterman, scum brothers.
Related reading:
Jimmy Arone, Big Hollywood: Real Time, Real Man: Maher Takes His Shot at Palin
Big Hollywood: Letterman Apologizes to Palin Family
Michelle Malkin: Letterman’s half-assed apology; Update: Palin accepts and Why They Hate Us and David Letterman: Perv and Letterman to Palin: Now that I’ve trashed your family, come on my show! and Media Malpractice: The documentary and “Liberal sexist pigs”and What’s on pages 4 & 5 of Us Weekly’s Palin-bashing issue and David Letterman: In the tank
DaTechguy’s Blog: Palin Letterman: Cause and effect
Frugal Café Blog Zone: More Hate Against Palin’s Children: Bill Maher Wants Spotlight, Tops Letterman’s Willow Palin Rape Joke and
Letterman Is Scum, NBC Contessa Brewer Meltdown: Angry That John Ziegler Said Positive Things about Sarah Palin and No Hate Here at Playboy, Guys… Just Some Good Ol’, Fun-Lovin’ Power-Rape of Conservative Women
Mark Levin Fan: Obama supporter Bill Maher disses Palin
Chicago Tribune: Entertainers too political
Protein Wisdom: David Letterman, Intentionalist
The Dallas Morning News: Controlling pundits’ rants
Fort Hard Knox: Liberal Bill Maher Attacks Sarah Palin
The Brad Blog: Video: 9/11 Hecklers Take Down Live Bill Maher Show…in Real Time
Noel Sheppard: NewsBusters: Bill Maher Sorry the Assassination Attempt on Dick Cheney Failed and Trib Reruns 1934 Cartoon Critical of New Deal: ‘Planned Economy or Planned Destruction?’
Nuke Riding Cowboy: NRC’s Rule of Verbal Responsibility
Hot Air: Bill Maher to Obama: Get off the TV and socialize this country, darn it and Video: Letterman non-apologizes to Palin; Update: McCain scolds Letterman and Video: Palin on Today and Video: Ziegler gets his mike cut off by MS-NBC and Video: Letterman doubles down, makes prostitute joke about Palin’s daughter; Update: Both Palins rip Letterman
PajamasMedia: I am afraid I no longer believe…That we have an inquisitive American media as we once knew it
Moralia: Because hot conservative women have to stick together
Kerfuffles: The Unforgiveable Crime of Bristol Palin
About the author
WHERE was all this moral rightwing OUTRAGE when the pubbies were making all those nasty comments about Amy Carter and Chelsea Clinton? WHY is Rush RICH from ringing bells and mocking AIDS victims who died? Where is the outrage over all the RACIST tripe about Michele and the Obamas? [gratuitous slam against Jesus Christ removed by admin] – GET OVER yourselves! You’re RIDICULOUS!
Trudy, I was in high school, then college, and back then, I was a registered Democrat… sorry. I was a selfish, self-absorbed kid when Amy and Chelsea were being teased/mocked. But I’ve grown up.
I can’t make up for my failings from several decades ago. I can take action now and protest. Because I, or anyone else, didn’t do it five, ten, twenty, thirty years ago is no reason to discount it today. That would be downright silly, don’t you think? To suggest that people have no right to change how they view the world, or to mature from their youth?
Did YOU protest Amy’s and Chelsea’s attacks back when they happened, Trudy? If so, bravo, and I’m proud that you did and commend you for your stance. Those attacks were wrong. If not, and you didn’t speak out and denounce them or write letters of protest, well… then your words of moral outrage ring pretty dang hollow.
Children of politicians being attacked by EITHER party is wrong. I thought I already said that several posts ago… Yes, actually I did. Are you trying to find some twisted way to show that you agree with Letterman and now Maher on attacking children? If so, you’re as pathetic as they are.
“Racist tripe” in my blog? BS… You’re insultingly mistaken. And I resent that you’d have the stupidity to infer that, Trudy.
I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about with Rush Limbaugh ringing bells nor laughing about AIDS victims… please cite your non-partisan source. I only started listening to him about a year ago.
“Rightwing outrage”… interesting that you’re attacking me for a period in time that I didn’t protest and at that time, I was a tree-hugging liberal, leftwing dreamer. Sweetly ironic, in fact. Like I said, I finally grew up…
It wasn’t a rape joke. It was a joke about Bristol Palin’s promiscuity. Sexist? Yes. Rape? No.
Wrong.
Because the joke was about “a daughter” attending the Yankee baseball game with her mother on their trip to New York, and the daughter who came to New York and was attending the game with Sarah Palin was NOT Bristol, but 14-year-old Willow Palin, the joke was indeed condoning statutory rape of a minor by a major league baseball player, Alex Rodriguez.
Letterman came out a few days after the joke and has said he meant to say it was Bristol (like that makes it better)… but Bristol was in Alaska, nowhere near the game. He has a team of well-paid writers and researchers who either dropped the ball or went with the cheap, sexist, lecherous shot – don’t care. Call it what you want, Groucho, we all know what Letterman said directly related to Willow and not her sister, and what he is NOW trying to say to deflect and offset the negative press and sponsors that are dropping by the wayside. It took him a full week to actually issue a real apology (he initially came out a few days after the joke with an insulting “non-apology” apology, then made a joke about Bristol being a prostitute… no sincerity, no remorse, just concern that profits will be lost). So I’m not buying it. Too little, too late.
If Letterman had immediately given a real apology and shown a shred of genuine remorse, I would be more inclined to believe him.
However, this new “real” apology coincides with Embassy Suites canceling all advertising with CBS. Reeks of fear of losing viewers and sponsors rather than anything resembling sincerity. It’s damage control, nothing more.
Don Imus was fired for less about what he said on the radio, and he had publicly and sincerely apologized almost immediately. He was still fired.
And since when was “age 18″ of a politician’s child the age of “it’s OK to attack and make cruel jokes”? (Letterman was making despicable jokes and exaggerations about Bristol when she was just 17). VP Joe Biden’s own daughter Ashley has a cocaine/drug abuse problem and has been arrested several times… she’s 27 and has been active in her dad’s political career. No jokes from Letterman about a real problem there with Ashley and she’s much older than 18, plus she has chosen to be involved in public politics, so by Letterman’s own behavior, she would be fair game for nightly attacks on his show. But I would take issue with him attacking Ashley as well. Politician’s children are suppose to be left alone, and that’s only decent and right, since they have not chosen to be in the public arena… so he leaves politicians’ children alone, unless they’re Republicans’ children.
Letterman is scum on several levels here.
I agree with you.
The children live in the house that their parents provide for them, and essentially have no control over what their parents do in in their professional/political lives.
For the media to attack the children of public officials with a political bias is wrong.
Biden’s daughter is 27, and an adult, Sarah’s family is young.
I think a Romney/Palin ticket might just play out in 2012.
What say you ??
I have tremendous respect for Mitt Romney… he is brilliant with economy, has strong conservative values and principles, but I don’t know, how the GOP is analyzing their options at this point. I was also drawn to Gingrich as a potential candidate, but he suddenly decided to become a watered-down “centrist” last week, and heck, we know how that turned out when McCain also did that. Gingrich is a brilliant man, but I’m not enamored with most of his politics.
Based on what I know today, I’d be first in line to support a Romney/Palin ticket. Although, I’m also extremely impressed with Jim DeMint and his conservative stance. He doesn’t pussy-foot around. I believe he is also a Constitutionalist.
I am looking at Romney’s experience in the private sector, i.e. restoring dead companies to profitability.
That experience would prove essential to taking our country back out of bankruptcy, and halting the demise of the greatest country, and the the greatest economic philosophy the world has ever seen.
And Sarah would be right there, promoting AMERICA.
Rome failed from within.
Apparently a joke in poor taste is more appalling than a mother who campaigns on family values while her 17 year old daughter is pregnant by a boy who doesn’t even want to marry her. Please, here is a definition of hypocrisy. Live with it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypocrisy
Wow, James, you sure don’t read this site at all. We’ve discussed that Sarah Palin did her job as a mother, teaching her children how to conduct themselves, to know right from wrong, and live by God’s word, but sometimes, kids just don’t listen. Bristol Palin is not the first teen of a Christian to make a mistake, nor will she be the last. And James, I’m a Christian, and I can’t go a day without making mistakes, of screwing up and not following Jesus’ teachings. But I continue to strive to be the best I can be.
Where is the hypocrisy of Sarah Palin? Snort – none. Glad you’re not running Congress… you would blame and castigate and denigrate mothers everywhere for anything their children did wrong. Hope you’ve been a perfect angel and followed everything your own mom taught you since you were a child… otherwise, you’d think your mother was also a hypocrite because YOU had made mistakes. That, in my mind, is childish and self-serving.
Sarah and Todd Palin tried to breakup Levi and Bristol for ages, even sending her away to live with Sarah’s sister for a year. Kids can be hopelessly romantic… and stubborn and stupid. But that does not make Sarah a hypocrite. In fact, she never denounced her daughter, forgave her for her transgression as Christ does for all Christians who ask for forgiveness, and continues to uphold her family values. She didn’t kick her daughter to the curb, as some parents do. How about you, James? If Bristol had been YOUR daughter, would you have kicked her to the curb for getting pregnant? How open-minded and forgiving are you, I wonder.
And speaking of young women pregnant out of wedlock, when did we shift back to the 1950s? I thought liberals embraced “free love” back in the 1960s. Or is that not for everyone? Another young woman who got pregnant out of wedlock was Barack Obama’s mother… any attacks on that one, James?
James,… I have to ask how old you are, and whether you have children.
Children today have many temptations, either biological, or technical.
The parents are there to establish some guidelines due to their own experience, and it gets harder for the parents to control their children because the parents are busy supporting the family.
Sarah Palin did not condone her daughter’s missteps, but I will guarantee her daughter had a good lecture.
Conservatives are great people, we love our country.
Look in the mirror, dude – hypocrisy is the liberal’s personal mantra.
Palin did everything right, and still her daughter defied her. No daughter EVER did that, right? No guy EVER got a girl pregnant and didn’t want to marry her, right? ROFL – You’re a fool and a moron, James Dunn. Statists, you are losing this one and grasping at laughable straws, wanting to blame Palin on anyting you can. In your peanut brain, the problems in Iran and Norht Korea and Cuba are her fault, too, I bet.
To James Dunn – You are an idiot. Palin didn’t tell her daughter to get pregnant and not be married. Bristol did what teenagers do, whatever they bloody well want to do. Have you ever gotten drunk and driven a car, had unportected sex with someone you’re not married to, stolen something, lied about something, experimented with illegal drugs, gossip about a person or lie about them? Did your mom tell you NOT to do those things, but you did them anyway? Then, guess what? If Palin is a hypocrite for what happened to Bristol, YOUR MOM IS A HYPOCRITE TOO. Your words, not mine. And i bet your mom is a relly nice person, but if you screw up, it’s all her fault. Your words again.
LOL – Jerk.
Statutory rape is a crime, not “a joke in bad taste.” I don’t believe Letterman is sorry. He’s only sorry that there is outcry and boycott. He is not sorry. and now there is threat of sponsors pulling out of his auto racing program, haha.
The whopping 38 protesters outside of CBS studios was truly impressive. It took me an extra 8 seconds to hail a cab with all those people blocking small parts of the sidewalk.
(Admin edit: Only the first paragraph of this comment remains, for what it’s worth. Two paragraphs of vulgar, out of control bashing of Bristol and Sarah and Todd Palin for not being good sports about Letterman’s insults about their children have been deleted. Interesting note – commenter’s IP is in North Carolina (the originating IP of the comment), but the commenter claims above that he or she “hailed a cab” in New York outside the CBS studio… curious. Did he/she dash back to the Fayetteville area of NC to write this comment? Nah, this conservative blog isn’t that important to anyone flying in from New York to North Carolina. Just more deception and vicious, profane attacks on the Palin family from a hater. You’re a class act, Syntax. All future bashings of Palin should be directed to HuffPo or Daily Kos, because they won’t be tolerated here.)
Amy Carter was never dissed by anyone! People thought her father was a fool because he said he got nulear advice or some such nonsense from her, but no one ever went after her. Ditto Chelsea. Please state what you are referring to when you say they were attacked.
Good memory, Ron. Like I said in an earlier post, I was a student back then and frankly, was not too interested in politics. Even if it did happen, how many 18-year-olds protest?
I honestly don’t remember either Amy Carter or Chelsea Clinton being attacked by the mainstream media or conservatives, but I was willing to give the commenter the benefit of the doubt. Just because I don’t remember it happening doesn’t mean it didn’t, but I really don’t know how I’d be able to quickly verify it (key word here is “quickly” – too much on my plate to want to spend more time researching it than the commenter did).
In this age of Internet, we can analyze a wide variety of news as it happens. Not so back during Carter’s or Clinton’s administration.
I do remember, though, Carter’s mispronunciation of the word “nuclear” (correct pronunciation: NOO-CLEE-UR) – he would say NU-QUOO-LER, making the middle syllable rhyme with “you,” and would tack the letter “L” on the last syllable rather than right after the letter “C”. My dad always groaned out loud when he did it, which is why I remember.
Thanks for the input, Ron! God bless.