Letterman’s Palin Joke: Tip of the Week

You’ve undoubtedly heard that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin recently took offense at a joke David Letterman made about one of her daughters. Palin was in the news for attending a Yankees game with some of her family. Referring to the game and trying to weave in something about Palin’s older daughter who had a child out of wedlock, Letterman said the only problem was that Palin’s daughter got “knocked up” by A-Rod during the game.

The daughter with Palin at the game was her younger 14-year-old. Palin blasted Letterman, saying that he owed an apology not just to her daughter but to all young women. Letterman’s response was more combatively lame than apologetic.

I sometimes think that the workplace language police go too far because interpretations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by the courts have gone too far when it comes to unlawful harassment and how jokes and other language can constitute harassment. I like a good joke, all the better if it’s a bit edgy.

This latest late-night comic spat reminded me, however, that anyone in a position of authority needs to be reasonably careful about his/her language. If a supervisor had come up with Letterman’s joke in the workplace, I doubt that it would have been considered unlawful harassment. Someone, however, probably would have complained about it.

There are harassment lines that shouldn’t be crossed. There are also taste lines that shouldn’t be crossed. Sometimes the two get blurred. Perhaps the tip we can discern from Letterman’s joke is that sexually related jokes about children should be kept to oneself. Such jokes, even if funny, might not be harassment, but they are in poor taste and will lead to  unnecessary trouble.

1. 

   ACU Frank says:

   June 15, 2009 at 9:04 am

   I think Letterman committed two offenses:

   1 – He apparently ‘forgot’ there was another daughter.

   2 – He was way too late with the joke. Jay Leno had joked about Palin’s daughter being impregnated by John Edwards, and Conan O’Brien had joked about Palin’s daughter having sex with the Philadelphia Flyers professional hockey team.

   As the father of a teenage girl, I would have taken far more offense at Conan’s joke, but maybe Palin wasn’t troubled by it because it involved hockey players. Although Leno’s joke involved sex with a Democrat… I would think that would have really got her riled.

   This is a reminder, of course, that past reputation of the ‘victim’ will only get you so far as a defense. Even if Letterman had the correct daughter, her pregnancy at 17 is not a green light for bad jokes, just as an employee’s promiscuity is not a green light for sexual harassment at work.
2. 

   NaeNae55 says:

   June 15, 2009 at 9:48 am

   Whatever your politics or feelings about Palin (and I realize she did bring her daughters into the national spotlight), jokes about teen pregnancy or making jokes about a politician’s children are out of place.

   If you are a nationally wellknown comedian making jokes about people in the news, especially if they did not purposely bring the spotlight on themselves, then it behooves you to make sure you have your facts straight. I am sure Letterman didn’t intend to imply statutory rape, but I find it hard to give him credit for it. Jokes about either of the daughters are tasteless and makes the comedian appear desparate (and most probably are now that Bush is out of office )
3. 

   ACU Frank says:

   June 15, 2009 at 4:29 pm

   Hearing Sarah Palin tell people to quit talking about her daughters sounds very similar to hearing Kate Gosselin complain about the obsessive attention her 8 receive…
4. 

   John Phillips says:

   June 16, 2009 at 8:36 pm

   Thanks to all for your comments. If I tried to really add anything, I’d only mess up what you’ve said.