Dave's 'Sorry' About 'Flawed' Palin Joke

Sarah Palin Accepts Letterman's Apology After Week-Long Feud

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posted: 49 DAYS 1 HOUR AGO

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After a week of uproar and even a grassroots Web campaign to get David Letterman fired, the 'Late Show' issued a long and concise apology to Sarah Palin and her family for what he called a joke that was "beyond flawed."

Letterman, who made a joke recently that a Palin "daughter was knocked up by (Yankee third baseman) Alex Rodriguez," said during his show that he's "beginning to understand what the problem is here: It's the perception rather than the intent."

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"As they say about jokes, if you have to explain the joke, it's not a very good joke. My responsibility, 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," Letterman said during his apology on Monday night.

From the onset, Letterman has insisted that he was not referring to 14-year-old Willow with the joke, but about 18-year-old Bristol, who recently had a baby and has since gone on to promote abstinence.

He says that "since it was a joke I told, I felt I had to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke. It's not your fault it was misunderstood. I would like to apologize especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the governor and her family and everyone else who was outraged by the joke."

In a statement Governor Palin accepted Letterman's apology "on behalf of all young women, like my daughters, who hope men who 'joke' about public displays of sexual exploitation of girls will soon evolve."

The response to the joke has been unexpected, even resulting in the creation of FireDaveLetterman.com -- a petition urging CBS to axe the longtime late night host. In a PopEater poll about this option, 60% of readers thought Letterman didn't deserve to be fired over the joke.

Letterman wrapped up his apology with a promise that he'll try to avoid situations like this.

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"I'm sorry about it, and I'll try to do better in the future," he said.

2009-06-16 06:43:07

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