Late night comedy, public relations, and image repair: Letterman responds twice to the Palin joke controversy

Humor both helped and complicated Letterman’s image repair discourse.

Josh Compton & Brett Miller

David Letterman, host of Late Show, told a joke about Sarah Palin’s daughter during one of his nightly monologues. During the ensuing controversy, Letterman offered two extended statements about the joke. Approaching Letterman’s responses from the perspective of Benoit’s image repair typology reveals three primary strategies: denial, mortification, and corrective action. While Letterman’s first attempt to resolve the controversy failed, his second attempt was largely successful. Implications for public relations image repair strategies are offered.

Compton, J., & Miller, B. (2010, November). Late night comedy, public relations, and image repair: Letterman responds twice to the Palin joke controversy [paper presentation]. National Communication Association, San Francisco, CA, United States.