Fans Outraged by an Old, 'Awkward' Interview of Jennifer Aniston With David Letterman

An interview Jennifer Aniston gave on The David Letterman Show in 1998 has resurfaced and is giving her devoted fans the creeps. She went on the show while promoting her picture, The Object of My Affection, and told Letterman that she often sees admirers in the steam room at her gym. Letterman then did something... quite disturbing. 

As he moved next to Aniston, he said, "Forgive me if this is rude, I just want to try one thing". Aniston seemed nervous about what was to come—and in hindsight, can anyone really blame her? After all, Letterman popped some of her hair into his mouth and held it for a few seconds before releasing her hair. Naturally, the actress just sat there, bewildered, wondering what was going on. "What are you doing?" she asked with clenched teeth. When he let go of her hair, he leaned back in his chair and offered her a tissue to wipe his spit out of her hair. He then replied, "I’m sorry, something to do with the steam room." 

Fans who had never seen the video before were understandably outraged. One fan wrote, "Can't get over how creepy and disturbing this clip of Jennifer Aniston on Letterman is." Another person commented, "These Letterman clips have been making the rounds online - and they are disturbing, to say the least. How was this even acceptable baffles the mind and conscience." As one Twitter user put it, "It baffles me too. This is not okay, never was okay and I hate how men have gotten away with it."

This isn't the first time clips from the late-night show have made rounds for their 'disturbing' content. Former Late Night with David Letterman writer Nell Scovell also penned a critical piece about the male host in Vanity Fair in 2009, claiming that her time on the program was marked by a "hostile work environment" for women. She wrote, "I was the second female writer ever hired at Late Night. When I applied for the job in 1988, I had no way of knowing how much the odds were stacked against me. In 27 years, Late Night and Late Show have hired only seven female writers. These seven women have spent a total of 17 years on staff combined (compared to a collective experience of 378 years for male writers)."

She further added, "Did Dave hit on me? No. Did he pay me enough extra attention that it was noted by another writer? Yes. Was I aware of rumors that Dave was having sexual relationships with female staffers? Yes. Was I aware that other high-level male employees were having sexual relationships with female staffers? Yes. Did these female staffers have access to information and wield power disproportionate to their job titles? Yes. Did that create a hostile work environment? Yes. Did I believe these female staffers were benefiting professionally from their personal relationships? Yes. Did that make me feel demeaned? Completely."

However, In 2019, she followed up with an article in which she said that she and Letterman had met, and at that time, Letterman apologized for his previous behavior and the show's dearth of female writers. He told Nell, "I don’t know how it got sidetracked. It just did. It was sloppiness. Inertia. I see it differently now, and if I were to start a show today, holy God, I’m certain there’d be mistakes, but not the mistakes that were just so gosh-dang obvious."