More Letterman

Last week, David Letterman announced on his show that he'd been sexually involved with an unspecified number of female staffers. Since then, several women have been identified as and/or come forward about having been sexually involved with Letterman.

To recap: My issue with Letterman's behavior is that one of the richest, most powerful men in television making a habit of sleeping with female subordinates is not only a major ethical breach, but also raises (what ought to be) obvious questions about coercion. If there is an expectation, even an implicit or oblique expectation, that sleeping with the boss may be part of your job, whether there can be genuine and undiluted enthusiastic consent is a serious question.

Last night, Letterman apologized on-air to his wife (which is none of my business or concern, and I won't be discussing that part here) and to "his staff."

I'm terribly sorry that I put the staff in that position. Inadvertently, I just wasn't thinking ahead. And, moreover, the staff here has been wonderfully supportive to me, not just through this furor, but through all the years that we've been on television and especially all the years here at CBS, so, again, my thanks to the staff for, once again, putting up with something stupid I've gotten myself involved in.

Here's the interesting part of that: The women with whom Letterman was sexually involved were staffers—and yet, quite evidently, he's not apologizing to them; he's not even including them in his definition of "staff."

It's not a clear-cut male/female divide, as one might assume, because Letterman reportedly also "apologized because he now realized that people would speculate he was involved with women on the show with whom he had no sexual relationship."

There's his "staff," and then there are the women he employs who he sleeps with.

CBS really ought to have a problem with that.

[Related: The casting couch is all too real, but no one will discuss it. Thanks to Shaker KO for sending that one.]