As everyone stands up to applaud David Letterman for being so 'brave' and acknowledging his cheatin' heart, a few former employees of the Letterman show would like to say "Not so fast." Nell Scovell, a former writer for The Late Night Show, has stated that she quit working for The Late Show because of alleged sexual favoritism and a hostile work environment. And no, he never hit on her. So she quit because he made it unpleasant for women he found not hot, in other words. Which almost every woman in the workforce can probably remember experiencing once or twice. Except the super hotties.
Scovell wrote an article for Vanity Fair online where she said he paid extra attention to her and his infidelity and interest in female staffers was fairly well discussed. She has no plans to pursue anything against Letterman but felt compelled to speak out to 'shine a light on gender inequality in that particular workplace.' Cue groaning men.
The majority of the Scovell article is very interesting and insightful regarding the difficulty women face when trying to write for male-dominated arenas, particularly in comedy. Currently, she points out, no women write for late night. And while men argue 'women don't apply' for the positions, her retort is that when they do, they are driven out by a hostile work environment that views them purely as sexual conquests and not genuine talent.
She also covers the way men have successfully turned arguing about gender inequality into a taboo 'nagging women' topic that makes intelligent women hesitant to bring it up, lest they be derided for being a feminazi.
In other Letterman news that's less depressing, Robert Pattinson will be on-set November 18th, so set your DVRs to record so that you Robsessors can watch it a second time, since your squealing over how cute he looks during the live feed will doubtlessly drown out anything he says.
Above is a still from the infamous Crispin Glover interview with Letterman in 1987 where a tripped out Glover in witch boots and a wig gets increasingly paranoid by the audience and then tries to kick Letterman in the face. Long live Crispin Glover.
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