Keep your package in your pants already

By on October 6th, 2009 In Advice

I’m getting tired of men cheating on their wives and slobbering all over television about how sorry they are. It’s like an epidemic. Sen. Mark Sanford. Eliot Spitzer. Jon Gosselin.  And now, of course, David Letterman.

Listen up my married friends, especially those of you in the public eye — no amount of public relations mojo is going to make it go away if you cheat on your wife. You will be tainted forever…I can’t help you. The best spinmeister in the world can’t help you. The first paragraph of John Edwards’ obituary is going to read: “Former senator and presidential hopeful John Edwards, who left the public spotlight in shame after cheating on his dying wife and allegedly fathering a child with a campaign worker, died today.”

Why are these men apologizing on television? Who is giving them this advice? Don’t apologize to me Letterman…apologize to your wife! In private. I don’t want to hear it. The apology isn’t worth more because it’s on national television. I don’t care that some guy is trying to extort money from you with threats of going public. He’s an ass and you’re an ass. I don’t feel sorry for you.

Here’s some PR advice for you Dave — take a leave of absence from your television show, get some therapy, and save your marriage.

Comments

rolomonkey Says:
October 6th, 2009 at 3:01 pm

Excellent advice — because some relations shouldn’t be public.

Marketing Sociologist Says:
October 6th, 2009 at 4:17 pm

Thank you, Len. I put a question on LinkedIn on Friday about this and I have been torn apart for my “morals.” http://www.linkedin.com/answers/marketing-sales/public-relations/MAR_PRR/559127-2008439?browseIdx=2&sik=1254870513433&goback=.amq

Evidently Letterman’s able to sleep with anyone he wants, even interns (wonder if they were under-aged?). One LinkedIn answer was, “How’s the view up there from your high horse?”

I take a different position, Len. If any man came to his employer and said he’d slept with women who reported to him, he’d be fired. Why hasn’t CBS canceled Letterman. They can’t fire him because he works for Can’t Keep It In My Pants production.

Look what happened to David Ramirez of the City of Phoenix. Demoted and two week suspension. Oops, bad example.

The LinkedIn response answers lead a friend to say, “Yup, we’re a nation of whore mongers.”

I personally believe those sleeping with “the boss” are being coerced, something I was ridiculed for saying on LinkedIn.

Okay, I’ll get of my high horse with one last comment about Letterman – sleaze!

Marketing Sociologist Says:
October 6th, 2009 at 4:29 pm

Forgot in my passion I blogged on it,

Some public relations flacks will defend anything
Including Hitler, Bernie Madoff and
David Letterman coercing staff for sex
http://marketingsociologist.blogspot.com/2009/10/some-public-relations-flacks-will.html

Marketing Sociologist scoops TMZ
Letterman about ratings=bad PR
Sully Sullenberger=Great PR
http://marketingsociologist.blogspot.com/2009/10/marketing-sociologist-scoops-tmz.html

Zac Says:
October 6th, 2009 at 5:35 pm

Hey Len,

I agree that Dave’s apologies should be private. He could make a brief public statement just to get the media off his back, but keep those more sensitive discussions behind closed doors.

Here is where I may diverge from your opinion and some of the other commentators…do we need to care about this? Letterman is an entertainer, just like athletes are entertainers. I don’t watch his show to gain moral insight and he’s not running my country.

I don’t know him, don’t want to know him, I want to turn on the show and be entertained. I, like most of us in this world, have much bigger fish to fry to be concerned with an entertainer’s moral fiber.

Mike Shaldjian Says:
October 6th, 2009 at 6:29 pm

I don’t agree. I think that his pr people guided him well. He had to get ahead of this story or he would have suffered much more.
And, it’s in his wife’s best interest too that his career is not destroyed by it.

You really think he/his family would have been better served if he privately apologized to his wife? (Which I’m sure had already taken place)There’s no way he could have talked about any this without a public apology to his wife or he would have been beaten up terribly for that.

Dave Murrow Says:
October 7th, 2009 at 9:24 am

I think Mike’s right. Plus, his ratings have soared as a result of public apologies. So who’s right? :-)

Letterman’s apologies bring big night in ratings
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hG_NJxjVbEDzC1OGFuIK3mtDeEpAD9B5OG6G0

Bridget Daly Says:
October 7th, 2009 at 9:33 am

Amen Len! I’m sick of it as well. Get off TV, go home and fix your marriage. Don’t apologize to me – I don’t care.

Cynde C Says:
October 7th, 2009 at 10:17 am

Maybe his PR people are smarter than we give them credit for. We say we don’t care, yet here we are talking about it on a blog and weighing in with our opinions on the issue.

David Letterman is a hot topic now…helping him continue to expose us to David Letterman the brand, increasing his value.

Beth Says:
October 7th, 2009 at 3:02 pm

Whether or not his PR counseled him correctly, I’m just sick of hearing about it. How many times did the news replay the lame jabs he took at himself during his Monday night monologue? This sort of activity likely goes on more than we know (or like to think about), but it becomes headline news for days on end when there’s far more newsworthy stories waiting to be told. Can’t exactly blame the media though…this sort of stuff is what people tune into. Wish they would rise above it though.

Add your Comment


Want Your Picture Icon? Go to gravatar.com and set a picture up to your email address for free. It also works on thousands of other websites, too!