Washington (CNSNews.com) – Should CBS fire David Letterman for having sexual relationships with female members of his staff? Feminist leader Eleanor Smeal danced around for an answer Tuesday when CNSNews.com asked her the question.
“I’m not for sexual harassment, but obviously a person’s innocent before proven guilty,” Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation and a former president of the National Organization for Women, said.
Smeal said “we don’t know all of the facts yet” about Letterman’s admitted indiscretions with female staff members –liaisons he admitted testifying about in court last week.
She added that “everyday (the situation) is unfolding--something new.”
Last Thursday, on the “Late Show with David Letterman,” the comedian confessed to having sex with female employees, after he reportedly testified about the affairs before a grand jury about a CBS producer who is accused of trying to blackmail Letterman.
“This morning, I did something I've never done in my life. I had to go downtown and testify before the grand jury,” he said.
Referring to an alleged blackmail attempt, Letterman explained, “There’s a letter in the package, and it says that ‘I know that you do some terrible, terrible things and I can prove that you do these terrible things, and sure enough contained in the package was stuff to prove that I do terrible things.”
Lettermen directly admitted to having sex with female employees
“The creepy stuff was that I have had sex with women who work for me on this show,” he said. “Now, my response to that is, yes I have. I have had sex with women who work on this show. And would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Perhaps it would, perhaps it would. Especially for the women. But that’s a decision for them to make--if they want to come public and talk about the relationships, if I want to go public and talk about the relationships. But what you don’t want is a guy saying, ‘I know you had sex with women so I would like $2 million dollars or I’m going to make trouble for you.’ So that’s where we stand right now,” Letterman said.
Smeal appeared Tuesday alongside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) and Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio) at a Capitol Hill press conference on health-care reform.
“Obviously, positions of power should not be used to harass,” Smeal added. “I wanted to talk about health care because basically that affects millions and millions of people, but sexual harassment’s bad, too. All I’m saying, is we’ve fought sexual harassment on the job, and we’re going to continue to fight it.”
Gerald Shargel, the attorney for CBS News producer Robert J. "Joe" Halderman, said Tuesday that he plans to argue that the late-night host committed sexual harassment if Halderman’s case goes to trial. Halderman pleaded not guilty last week to charges of trying to extort $2 million from Letterman.
Transcript:
CNSNews.com: David Letterman recently told the audience of his late night talk show that he had sexual relationships with female members of his staff. I was wondering, do you think that CBS should fire David Letterman for this?
Eleanor Smeal: I want to talk about health care today, but of course I’m not for sexual harassment, but obviously a person’s innocent before proven guilty. We don’t know all the facts yet.
CNSNews.com: So if he is proven guilty, do you think that he should be fired?
Smeal: Well I don’t want to, you know, the reality is, is that right now, every day it is unfolding--something different.
Smeal: Obviously, positions of power should not be used to harass. I wanted to talk about health care because basically that affects millions and millions of people, but sexual harassment’s bad, too. All I’m saying is we’ve fought sexual harassment on the job, and we’re going to continue to fight it.