Letterman Gets Mostly Raves for Handling Scandal

Nope, the David Letterman extortion story didn’t lose momentum over the weekend. From fans to fellow talk show hosts, everyone’s still talking:

• “If we are now holding late-night talk-show hosts to the same moral accountability as we hold politicians or clergymen, I'm out,” said Letterman follow-up—and underling—Craig Ferguson on last night’s Late Late Show, calling his boss “the king of late-night television.”

• “Politicians should take a page from his book. He was smart, PR-wise,” said Joy Behar on The View yesterday. Co-host Sherri Shepherd called him “a standup guy,” but Lisa Ling argued, “When you're the boss, you should keep your thing in your pants.”
• “To me, it seems Dave Letterman's handling of this is impeccable,” former late-night host Dick Cavett tells the AP. “Brave, direct, and—dare I say it?—manly. He has set a real example here of exactly how to behave when assaulted in such a sleazy operation.”
• Fans—at least, those attending yesterday’s taping—seem, for the most part, forgiving. “His name is up there. He's famous. He's powerful. Oh, yeah, he's human,” one tells the Los Angeles Times. Another adds, “I still love this guy. But I'm just sick of celebrities' sex lives. And the politicians? Just fix the country! Just make me laugh!”
• Letterman may have violated CBS guidelines by having sex with subordinates—but Letterman works for his production company, Worldwide Pants, not the network. A company rep tells TMZ, “Dave is not in violation of our policy and no one has ever raised a complaint against him.”

(More David Letterman stories.)