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These Disturbing Past Interviews From David Letterman's Show Prove He Had No Boundaries With Female Celebrities
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These Disturbing Past Interviews From David Letterman's Show Prove He Had No Boundaries With Female Celebrities

David Letterman has pissed off many celebrities but that's nothing compared to his inappropriate behaviour with female celebrities on-air.

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Trigger warning: The article includes topics and acts of sexual assault that could be distressing to some readers.

When FX/Hulu released the documentary The New York Times Presents: Framing Britney Spears, it started a conversation about how the pop star was portrayed by the media, her mental health, and how big a role the toxic behavior of media played in it. It also sparked a debate about how men in media have gotten away with bad behavior towards famous women, and David Letterman might be on top of that list.

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Branding him as only an "as***le" as Cher did may not be enough as many of his actions towards the famed women fall under the category of harassment. Recently, Paris Hilton reflected on her 2007 interview with the talk show host. She spoke about how the host repeatedly asked the then-26-year-old about her three weeks in jail for violating her probation in an alcohol-related driving incident.

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"At this point, I hadn't done an interview in months and months, because I didn't want to talk about it. Letterman's team kept calling my PR team to have me on the show, and we kept saying no," Paris revealed, as per EW. She said she went on the show only to promote a fragrance but on one condition. "My PR team made an agreement to him that [the prison discussion] was off-limits, and we would not discuss it, and we'd only be there to promote the perfume and my other business ventures. I felt like it was a safe place because I'd been going on Letterman for so many years, and he'd always have fun with me and joke around, and I thought he'd keep his word on this. And I was wrong."

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He kept badgering her about her prison stint - "How did you like being in jail?" - even when she was clearly uncomfortable discussing it, even tearing up at one point.


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And, this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Here are 10 other interviews of Letterman with famous women that shows how he mistreated them:

1. He made jokes about Britney Spears' issues



 

He is complicit in creating conditions that led to Britney Spears' mental health illness. One segment on the show was insensitively titled "top 10 ways the world would be different if Britney Spears was president."

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2. He pestered Janet Jackson to talk about her performance at Super Bowl XXXVIII with Justin Timberlake and the infamous wardrobe malfunction



 

She was clearly irritated and not willing to discuss Timberlake tearing her clothes off on stage, but he wouldn't take no for an answer, even when she clearly said "I don't want to relive it."

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3. He joked about giving Charlize Theron an inappropriate birthday gift



 

If this doesn't count as sexual harassment at the workplace, what does?

4. He kept pestering (again!) Madonna to kiss a random male member of the audience even when she said "No"


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If Madonna wasn't Madonna, this interview would have gone very differently.

5. He stopped his interview with Jennifer Aniston to smell her hair without her consent. Yikes!



 

Not only did he smell her hair, he put a lock of it in his mouth too, while Aniston sat there uncomfortable. There is no way this is okay. Not then, not now.

6. He failed to respect Lindsay Lohan's boundaries completely when he made light of her struggles with addiction



 

Joking about rehab is not comedy, it's just cruel. This is not journalism, this is bullying.

7. He insinuated Beyonce liked rough intercourse when she spoke about getting bruised from her performance



 

Just, No. Nope. She was talking about how hard she works for her shows and the toll it takes on her physically, and he made it about something else, something inappropriate. No wonder, it reflected in his behaviour at his workplace too.

8. He wouldn't let go of Sofia Vergara when she tried to pull out of a hug multiple times



 

 This is just icky.

9. In the 1990s, he did the same to Mariah Carey. She tried to pull away but he held on to her hand



 

This is just uncomfortable to watch.

10. His crew zoomed in on Jennifer Lopez's bust and he commented on her body



 

She was on the show to promote her work, the movie Wedding Planner and her new album. Instead, he chose to allow his crew to objectify her body, all while the audience laughed.

References:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcblpszrwAk

https://ew.com/tv/paris-hilton-2007-david-letterman-interview-podcast/

Cover image source: Getty Images | Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris