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Friday, June 12, 2009
Jeweler Korman files complaint over Letterman joke
UDPATE: The FCC has declined to comment.
Sarah Palin is not the only person outraged about David Letterman’s jabs at her family. After the CBS late-night talk show host made some off-color jokes about the former vice presidential candidate’s daughter Monday night, Austinite Russell Korman, owner of Russell Korman’s Fine Jewelry & Watches, decided to file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission.
“I really think it was intent to hurt a public figure by going through their children,” said Korman, who saw the jokes on Tuesday when they were rerun on cable news shows. “We didn’t do that, much, to the Bush kids and we didn’t do it much to Chelsea Clinton or Amy Carter, and we certainly shouldn’t do it to Sasha and Malia Obama. And we shouldn’t do it to a governor or senator or, really, anyone’s underage kids.”
In his Monday night monologue, Letterman made a joke about a sexual relationship between Yankees player Alex Rodriguez and Palin’s daughter. (The Palin family attended a Yankees game Sunday.) An issue of contention is whether Letterman was referring to Palin’s 18-year-old daughter Bristol, a single mother who has become a public figure, or Palin’s 14-year-old daughter, Willow.
Letterman contends he was talking about Bristol, and that he would not have made a joke about a 14-year-old girl. But Korman notes that it was widely reported, before Monday’s broadcast, that it was Willow Palin who was attending the game with her parents. “For me to know that in Austin, Texas, before any of these jokes even came up, it was that well publicized,” Korman said. “Let’s remind everyone, CBS is based in New York, his show is in New York City, I believe, and the New York Yankees are in New York. So if I knew the news here, out of his huge staff — they knew what they were doing.”
Korman filed his complaint (Form 475B, regarding “Obscene, Profane and/or Indecent Material) on Thursday morning. He said he would like to see the FCC mete out the maximum possible fine to CBS and for the network to suspend Letterman’s show for a week. “I’m not someone that does a Don Imus thing and calls for firings and things like that,” he said.
Neither the FCC nor local CBS affiliate KEYE responded to repeated requests for comment.
