David Letterman Admits to Affairs Amidst Attempted Extortion

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Late Night talk show host David Letterman announced during Thursday night’s television show after an attempted extortion case that he had sexual relations with several female members of his staff. He had reported it earlier, Thursday morning, to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.

While the announcement was made initially in a comedic manner, eliciting laughter from the audience, Letterman highlighted his effort to protect the names of his staff members involved.

"The creepy stuff was that I have had sexual relations with women who work for me on this show. Now, my response to that is yes I have. " Letterman said.

"Would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Perhaps it would. Especially for the women…but that is a decision for them to make if they want to go public and talk about the relationships, if I want to go public and talk about the relationships, but what you don’t want is some guy saying…’I would like $2 million dollars or I am going to make trouble for you.’”

Letterman married long-time girlfriend Regina Lasko, earlier this year, and has a 5 year old son with her.

The announcement comes at a crucial time in late night television as the host of "The Tonight Show," Jay Leno, handed off the position to Conan O’Brien in June, transitioning to a 10pm primetime slot.

Since the NBC late night handoff Letterman has led in the ratings.