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David Letterman's Palin mea culpa

By April MacIntyre Jun 16, 2009, 2:34 GMT

CBS has announced that David Letterman issued an apology on Monday for telling a joke about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's teenage daughter.

"I told a bad joke. I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception" of the joke by viewers, he said during Monday's taping of "Late Night with David Letterman," according to CBS' transcript of the show. EPA/CHRIS GARDNER"I told a bad joke. I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception" of the joke by viewers, he said during Monday's taping of "Late Night with David Letterman," according to CBS' transcript of the show."And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke," he said. "It's not your fault that it was misunderstood, it's my fault."The joke in question involved New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez "knocking up" the former vice-presidential nominee's daughter during a family trip to a baseball game.Palin thought he was talking about 14-year-old Willow, who went to the game with her family. Letterman thought he was talking about 18 year-old Bristol. The confusion over which daughter was "the daughter" led to an angry Palin using the media to criticize Letterman, who used his show to say he would never make sexual jokes about a 14-year-old.A contrite Letterman said, "I would like to apologize especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the Governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke. I'm sorry about it and I'll try to do better in the future," he said.