I don’t know about you, but I’ve kind of reached my limit on people apologizing on the air for things. And of course, it’s usually men, and it’s usually about the same thing. Maybe it’s a real ratings booster when you hear that some public figure is about to issue a mea culpa, but it’s turned into a channel switcher for me – especially when it comes to men apologizing for the usual thing.
It’s unclear to me whether David Letterman helped or hurt himself by all this very public activity. I know two things: First, it’s going to limit his material for a while. He won’t have the standing to make jokes about the sexual misadventures of other public figures, especially politicians, and when you’re a comedian, that’s a problem. Second, most of us will forget about it in relatively short order.
You would think this lesson would have been learned by now: certain kinds of celebrity come with a price, There are just some things you can’t do anymore in the modern media environment, and your responsibility as a celeb is to a) not do them, or b) at the very least, get away with them. I’ve said many times that what President Clinton did with Monica Lewinsky was a security risk of the first magnitude – just my opinion. We all laughed at President Carter when he revealed that he had lusted in his heart – but he shouldn’t he get a little credit for not proceeding on to the next step?
Look – faced with the same temptations as some of these people, I don’t know whether I’d be able to resist -- but I’d sure as hell try.
In the meantime, I just wish some of those household names would go into their closets, as the Bible suggests, say a few Hail Marys or whatever is appropriate, and spare us the public spectacle.
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