Update!

Letterman Apologizes, Seriously, for "Bad" Palin Joke

Late Show host addresses audience, says Palin daughters misunderstanding was his fault for telling a joke that was "beyond flawed"

By Natalie Finn Jun 16, 2009 1:37 AMTags
David LettermanCBS

David Letterman has figured out that, at this point, the joke's on him.

At Monday's taping, the Late Show host again apologized—but without reattacking them this time—to Sarah Palin's family for his "coarse joke" about the Alaska governor's 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, getting "knocked up" by New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez. Palin—along with many of her supporters and Letterman's harshest critics—interpreted it as a bizarro crack at 14-year-old Willow Palin.

"I've never made jokes like this as long as we've been on the air, 30 long years, and you can't really be doing jokes like that," Letterman said, referring to the inappropriate thing some thought that he was saying. "And I understand, of course, why people are upset. I would be upset myself."

"It doesn't make any difference what my intent was, it's the perception," the late-night veteran told his audience. "And, as they say about jokes, if you have to explain the joke, it's not a very good joke...I take full blame for that. I told a bad joke. I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception.

"And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke. It's not your fault that it was misunderstood, it's my fault."

He concluded: "So I would like to apologize, especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke. I'm sorry about it, and I'll try to do better in the future."

Matt Lauer will be so pleased.

An outraged Palin told the Today host last week that Letterman had "crossed the line" by dragging Willow into his routine, and she accused Lauer and whomever else of being "extremely naive" if they believed the Late Show host had been talking about Bristol.

Last Wednesday, Letterman said he couldn't really defend his "Top Ten Highlights of Sarah Palin's Trip to New York City" bit—but that what he said was "just jokes." 

"Maybe these are questionable because the girl who, excuse me, but is knocked up, is 18 years old," he added at the time.

When he ventured into Palin territory in tonight's monologue, however, he kept the comedy to a minimum.

"I had no idea that anybody was at the ball game except the governor, and I was told at the time she was there with Rudy Giuliani—and I really should have made the joke about Rudy."

Ba-dum-bump.

Meanwhile, the FireDavidLetterman.com camp is still planning a rally in front of the Ed Sullivan Theater tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. ET.

"I'm glad he's acknowledged we're right," the group organizer and Los Angeles talk-radio host John Ziegler, told the L.A. Times' Show Tracker blog.

"I think it's a good first step in the right direction, but I don't think it's enough."

(Originally published June 15, 2009, at 5:16 p.m. PT)