AP
Andy Barr –
1 hr 45 mins ago
July 18, 2009

Following a week of back and forth between CBS late night comic David Letterman and Sarah Palin over a crude joke he told about the Alaska Republican governor’s daughter, the Olive Garden restaurant says it is cancelling all of its scheduled ads on Letterman’s “Late Show” for the rest of the year.

In an email to a Letterman critic obtained by POLITICO, a spokeswoman for the Italian restaurant chain wrote that “there will be no more Olive Garden ads scheduled for ‘The Late Show’ with David Letterman in this year’s broadcast schedule,” citing the talk show host’s “inappropriate comments.”

“We apologize that Mr. Letterman’s mistake, which was not consistent with our standards and values, left you with a bad impression of Olive Garden,” wrote Sherri Bruen, the company’s guest relations manager.

Bruen said the company “screens network television programs whenever possible,” but explained that “telecasts, such as ‘The Late Show’ with David Letterman, are taped on a daily basis, preventing advertisers from reviewing the content prior to airing.”

A spokesman for the company confirmed Thursday that for now it has cancelled all its remaining scheduled ads on the CBS program for the rest of the year.

Conservative radio host John Ziegler, who previously interviewed Palin for his film “Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted,” organized a lightly attended protest Tuesday outside the “Late Show” studio.

Ziegler has listed contact information for 14 advertisers on Letterman’s show, including Olive Garden, on his website dedicated to the comedian’s firing. He called the news an “obvious victory” but vowed to continue “our quest for some sense of accountability for Letterman in this matter.”

Letterman has apologized for his comment last week about Palin’s daughter getting “knocked up by Alex Rodriguez” during the governor’s recent visit to a Yankees baseball game. Palin attended the game as part of a trip to New York.

“I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception,” Letterman said. “And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke.”

After repeatedly blasting the late night comic in statements and interviews last week, Palin accepted Letterman’s apology on Tuesday.

“Letterman certainly has the right to ‘joke’ about whatever he wants to, and thankfully we have the right to express our reaction,” she said in a statement.

Letterman isn’t sorry about the comments, he regrets that he didn’t consider that us rubes wouldn’t get his oh so hip irony.

I’d love to watch Dave or his fanboys facing Triumph the Insult Comic Dog

Because of Best Buy’s sponsorship of the Letterman show, I’m sorry but I can no longer use Best Buy as my ‘go to’ vendor for computer supplies and electronics. By sponsoring David Letterman–a man who thinks child rape fantasies are funny–Best Buy unintentionally shares the blame for polluting the public airways with David Letterman’s ‘inner thoughts.’

In a nutshell, I don’t want my money ending up in David Letterman’s pocket through Best Buy’s ad budget.

In just the past year, I’ve purchased from Best Buy: a DVD player, a Digital Video Recorder, two digital converter boxes, two USB thumb drives, ethernet cables, 2 DVD media stacks, 2 CD stacks and a lens cleaning kit. At least half of my DVD collection is from Best Buy.

Just this week I’m looking to buy a spare laptop battery, a tripod and a DVD-VCR combo (to transfer hundreds of VHS tapes to more DVD media.) I’m also in the market for a battery-operated digital TV, an FM transmitter, and a terabyte external hard drive. Normally, I would go right over to my neighborhood Best Buy. Unfortunately, I now have to make these purchases elsewhere.

Letterman’s multiple apologies change nothing. A self-serving apology cannot cure Mr. Letterman.

Obviously, if Best Buy had anything in common with David Letterman’s anti-social fantasies, I would have never picked Best Buy as my vendor-of-choice in the first place. You should consider spending your ad budget only on TV shows that do not soil Best Buy’s image.

Also, please consider that your ad dollars come from consumer purchases. Out of respect to your customers, please do not transfer our spending dollars to the likes of David Letterman.

Sincerely,

“Still, more than a dozen protesters held up banners”

“But I have a question for Megan and the other lady: where were you two last summer when nutcrackers and Bros before Hos T Shirts were sold during the Dems primaries? Selective outrage indeed”

I’m a Republican & a goodly number, if not most of us, didn’t really follow the Dem primaries (except, ironically, Limbaugh ditto heads who voted for Hillary to prolong the primaries) & all the under the radar (aka not covered by MSM) sexism against Hillary.

To CBS:

The media attack against women has reached
Sharia proportions Even though we have a sexist
president with a vulgar middle finger who is in agreement with this, most Americans are not. There are 17 women in my family and we are contacting all of your sponsors and informing them of our boycott.

Although Letterman’s vitriol was directed towards the Palin women it was a directive to all American women to stay out of political service or “media rape” is to follow. -Either to them directly or to their family members including vulnerable underage female children.

FYI: I am an independent and was equally disgusted by CBS denigration of Hilary Clinton.

BTW I wonder how hardworking airline staff feel about Letterman’s depiction of Stewardesses as “slutty.” Of course denigration of working Americans is perfectly acceptable to the extreme left.

As you may have noticed your ratings have been in the toilet due to the masturbatory perseverations of several key pundits and it’s exactly what you deserve.

It’s time to cut down on the viagra and return to standards of ethical, media professionalism. Shame on each and every one of you who have allowed, enabled and encouraged this devolvement of American culture and rampant abuse of the women of this country.

If you don’t fire Letterman I am perfectly happy to boycott your sponsors permanently, as well as the infomercials on your network that pass for journalism.

I’ve seen some people write that they have cancelled HBO becasue of Maher, but cancelling HBO means cancelling a lot more than just Maher, and that might be hard for many people. And I’d really miss Big Love, In treatment, and the Number One Ladies Detective Agency! I just stopped watching Maher last year, and kept the rest. But I’m not sure if they know – I don’t know how premium channels tell how many are watching.

Then again, maybe they don’t care. Not only do they have Maher “beating up” on women, they have boxing on ALL the time – and I’m someone who thinks boxing should be illegal – violence for the sake of violence – I don’t get it, myself.

The state doesn’t just give you that healthcare, you pay a portion of it. In our state, they are now considering a system where our healthcare that we paid into during our careers will start costing us hundreds of dollars a month because the legislature has squandered the money in that fund and in the retirement fund. I believe it’s actually violating the contract we had with the state when we worked in those jobs.

Any way you slice it, we’re being punished for working hard and succeeding.