Demand An Immediate Apology
I grew up on Letterman. For years I was in charge of getting tickets to his show (not an easy endeavor back then) for a group of friends and me to see him. I agreed his swipes at the Palin family may have been borderline, but I gave him a pass for that. I gave him a pass on his recent workplace romance record too. But there is no excuse – zero – for this.
Last night in his opening monologue, Letterman made fun of – mocked – Amanda Simpson, President Obama’s recent appointment to the position of Senior Technical Adviser to the Department of Commerce. She is believed to be the first transgender person to be appointed to a government post by a U.S. President.
I’m gratified that GLAAD has contacted CBS, but I’m not sure the outcome will be sufficient. Letterman needs to offer an on-the-air apology before the week is out. I ask you to contact CBS and demand an apology.
Also, read Joe.My.God and Pam Spaulding, who have done a great job explaining why this is so unacceptable.
Oh, and if you want to see yet another example of stupidity, arrogance, and ignorance, read this stupid blog post I came upon while searching Twitter. We all have a long way to go.