Love him or hate him, David Letterman has been a household name in America for longer than I can remember. With his latest trick, he has managed get himself into a bit of a jam with not only the general public, but also feminist groups.
As it turns out, old Dave had a long, bad habit of sleeping with the ladies who worked on his production team – in other words, sleeping with subordinates at work. The reason that this comes to light is that a producer from another show got wind of this and tried to extort Dave for $2 million. Rather than empower the scammer, he went public with the story.
I'm really not interested in the morality of the events in this story, but I do think this is a great example of why not to have dalliances in the workplace. In my view, Letterman is lucky to have endured only a extortion case. A sexual harassment charge from a jilter lover has – well - the potential to be rather more expensive.
With the criminal complaint moving forward and feminist groups getting on Dave, it's likely to be a good reminder – or wake-up call- for some that some behavior at work just isn't acceptable at worst, or simply not a good idea at best.