Looking back, David Letterman was among the elite late show hosts. However, his success didn’t come without controversy. That was especially true in 2009 when the blackmail scandal went viral. Letterman was ignorant to the fact that he almost lost his job with CBS, as he admitted himself. During that same time frame, a former writer took a shot at Letterman given her experience on the show. However, nobody listened given to what was going on with Dave at the time.
Ten years after the story, Nell Scovell decided to revive it and this time, she surprisingly got a response out of Letterman. We’re going to reveal what took place between the two, and how Letterman reacted to the story that claims he showed favoritism towards male writers behind the scenes.
Comedy Writer Nell Scovell Wrote The Controversial ‘Letterman And Me’ Story Back In 2009
2009 was a tough year for David Letterman and his family. The Late Show host was involved with a blackmail scandal, and what flew under the radar at that time was a story told by Nell Scovell discussing the discrimination that takes place behind the scenes on late night talks shows, particularly the Late Show. Scovell took exception to the atmosphere behind the scenes, and how female writers were hardly a thing on the show.
Scovell revealed with CBC that her words failed to make an impact at the time. “I had written an article in 2009 that was pegged to his blackmail sex scandal, but the pivot I made was to the gender discrimination in the writers’ room, because it [was] 2009 and there [were] zero female writers on the Letterman show, on Conan O’Brien’s show and on Jay Leno’s show. And I was just appalled to discover this.”
“I do think there’s an umbrella of misogyny and exclusion that embraces both harassment and discrimination. So I wrote about it, and it was widely shared, this article. And yet Dave, who was the president of the production company, never read it. And so my piece did not have the impact I hoped it would have.”
However, ten years later she decided to revisit the article, and as for her attempt this time around, she wanted to get David Letterman’s input on the situation Surprisingly, the host agreed to meet and was very apologetic.
David Letterman Took Ownership To The Claims Made By Scovell, Though He Revealed It Took Him Years To Address It Because Of His Marriage
In conversation with Scovell, David Letterman wasn’t making any excuses for the atmosphere behind the scenes on the Late Show, particularly in the writers room. Letterman revealed that if he was given another chance, those types of situations would be much different.
He said, “It was sloppiness. Inertia. I see it differently now, and if I were to start a show today, holy God, I’m certain there’d be mistakes, but not the mistakes that were just so gosh-dang obvious.”
“When I read that document you wrote 10 years ago,” Letterman said, “I just thought, There’s nothing to be upset about here. It happened, that’s all true.”
Letterman revealed that his perspective was different back then, and it is hard to come to this understanding years later. In addition, Letterman claims he was trying to save his marriage at the time which resulted in the story being less of a priority. Nonetheless, Scovell wasn’t buying it.
Nell Scovell Didn’t Give David Letterman The Pass Despite His Apology
Scovell did give credit to David Letterman for agreeing to the interview and actually admitting to his faults. However, she didn’t buy into the excuse of David putting the story on hold because of his marriage.
He said at the time, “Dave using his family as an excuse for neglecting his professional duties is a luxury no high-level female could ever afford. He faced no corporate punishment after his on-air disclosure [about a CBS employee’s attempt to extort him over multiple affairs with staffers],” Scovell writes. “Self-reflection can save a marriage, but it can’t change history.”
Scovell would go on to reveal that there were lots of parts of the job that she loved, but ultimately, the bias was too much to handle.
“There were parts I loved about the job. When you’re writing jokes for a Top 10 list every night, it’s like Comedy Writing 101. It really honed my joke writing, and there were some really nice people there,” she tells CBC.
“But I describe it as like working in a soap opera. There was a lot of, you know, assistants crying at their desks and women. There was this air of sexual favouritism, which is when you’re in a workplace where there’s a lot of relationships going on between … well, in this case it was all higher men and lower women, although, you know, it can be flipped.”
“I saw people getting benefits and having information above their pay grade. And that makes it a less pleasant place to work and it is demeaning to other women.”
At the very least she was able to speak her truth and get the proper recognition for it.
Source: NewsFinale
