Palin Slams Letterman's 'Sexually Perverted' Joke

June 11, 2009 -- Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, are swinging back at David Letterman after the talk-show host made the Alaska governor and her family the focus of a series of off-color jokes.

After two days of back and forth between Alaska's first family and the late-night talk show host, the Palins today refused Letterman's invitation to come on his show after he offered an apology for comments Letterman made earlier in the week about the governor and her daughter.

"The Palins have no intention of providing a ratings boost for David Letterman by appearing on his show. Plus, it would be wise to keep Willow away from David Letterman," PalinPAC spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton said today

Letterman's "Top 10" list Tuesday night focused on Palin's recent trip to New York, and included several cracks: "Bought makeup from Bloomingdale's to update her 'slutty flight attendant' look," Letterman said.

But it was a line in Letterman's monologue that set off a firestorm: "One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game, during the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."

Palin was in New York with her 14-year-old daughter, Willow.

The line prompted an an angry response from the Palins. In a statement posted on Facebook and distributed to the press Tuesday, the governor said:

"Concerning Letterman's comments about my young daughter (and I doubt he'd ever dare make such comments about anyone else's daughter): 'Laughter incited by sexually-perverted comments made by a 62-year-old male celebrity aimed at a 14-year-old girl is not only disgusting, but it reminds us some Hollywood/N.Y. entertainers have a long way to go in understanding what the rest of America understands -- that acceptance of inappropriate sexual comments about an underage girl, who could be anyone's daughter, contributes to the atrociously high rate of sexual exploitation of minors by older men who use and abuse others.' "

Todd Palin added: "Any 'jokes' about raping my 14-year-old are despicable. Alaskans know it, and I believe the rest of the world knows it, too."

Letterman Apologizes for Palin Jokes

Letterman responded Wednesday night by saying that the joke was aimed at 18-year-old Bristol Palin, not Willow: "We were, as we often do, making jokes about people in the news, and we made some jokes about Sarah Palin and her daughter [Bristol] ... and now they're upset with me," Letterman said.

"These are not jokes made about her 14-year-old daughter. I would never, never make jokes about raping or having sex of any description with a 14-year-old girl. ... Am I guilty of poor taste? Yes. Did I suggest that it was OK for her 14-year-old daughter to be having promiscuous sex? No."