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I couldn't care less what David Letterman does in his personal life. But, I'm a big fan of his. He's one of the funniest, smartest and most talented late night talk show hosts around. Simply put, I'm a fan of Dave's. But, frankly, I wasn't thrilled with how he handled this recent controversy around what he calls his "creepy" behavior in connection with women on his staff that he had sex with and an apparent effort to extort $2 million from him.
On some level, Letterman was clearly a victim of a really creepy guy trying to score a few cheap bucks by taking advantage of the fact that Letterman slept with some staff members. I'm not going to address any legal or HR liability issues when a boss sleeps with a staff person. It's not my area of expertise and, frankly, I don't even like talking about it. However, from a PR and crisis management perspective, Dave could have done a lot better than he did in his opening monologue Thursday night where he tried to clarify this whole situation and complain to his studio audience as well as those watching at home.
I wrote a book recently called "What Were They Thinking? Crisis Communication: The Good, the Bad, and the Totally Clueless". I have to ask, "What exactly was Dave thinking?" His on air disclosure was detailed-- in fact, way too detailed. He gave out much more information than we needed and it took him a lot longer than it should have for him to actually say it. He rambled all over the place. It was unclear whether Dave was going for laughs, sympathy or just trying to get this whole thing behind him. But, when Letterman talked about the "creepy" stuff saying "I have had sex with women who work for me on this show. Now, my response to that is 'Yes, I have'..." (laughter and applause). He continued, "Would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Perhaps It would... especially for the women" (laughter and applause). That's a great one liner, Dave. But, I failed to see the joke.
Letterman is the same guy who, for decades, has made fun of-- as well as made a very good living off of-- making the most of sexual issues connected to other high profile public figures. I'm not just talking about more than a decade of Bill Clinton/ Monica Lewinsky material, but also, this past summer, he stupidly decided to joke about the sexual behavior of Sarah Palin's daughter. Letterman's apology in that case made sense. It was effective. But, his rambling monologue last night, in which many in the studio audience were trying to decipher when the joke ended and the serious part began, just didn't get the job done.
Dave referred to his behavior as "creepy". That's not the best choice of words when you're making reference to you, as the boss-- a very powerful boss-- having sex with staff members. There are all kinds of complex power relationships going on there that you're going to have to ask Dr. Phil or some workplace expert about. But, as for me, the whole thing felt kind of creepy.
I respect Dave for wanting to disclose it all and get it behind him. But, he shouldn't have done it in front of an audience who came to see a show and have a few laughs. That's the wrong audience for something like this. He should have gone outside his comfort zone, held a press conference and done it straight. Let reporters ask him questions-- real questions without smirking and goofy one liners. If he had done that, then the extortion part of the story would be more front and center, which it's not.
And, finally, Dave saying that he's never going to speak about this again is wishful thinking on his part, because it's not behind him and he doesn't get to decide when the story ends. My gut tells me it may be just the beginning for a very funny and talented guy who needs some coaching when it comes to handling a sensitive media and public relations crisis.
To watch the related video, click here.
Steve Adubato, PhD is an MSNBC.com Media Analyst and author of the book, "What Were They Thinking: The Good, the Bad, and the Totally Clueless."
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