A former writer for David Letterman said she quit his NBC talk show in part because of alleged sexual favoritism and a hostile work environment.Nell Scovell, writing for Vanity Fair online Tuesday, said she had no intention of filing a lawsuit and wasn't seeking revenge.Scovell, who went on to a successful Hollywood career, said in a telephone interview.In the Vanity Fair article, Scovell said Letterman didn't "hit on her" during her roughly five-month stint with NBC's "Late Night with David Letterman" in 1990.Other high-level male employees were having sexual relationships with female staffers as well, she alleges, and the women gained professional benefits from those relationships.CBS News producer Robert J. "Joe" Halderman has pleaded not guilty to trying to extort $2 million from Letterman to keep some of the comedian's sexual affairs quiet. Scovell wrote she doesn't intend to seek legal action.Instead, she said, she wants to call attention to the complete lack of women writers on all talk shows, whether hosted by Letterman or NBC's Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien.She quit Letterman's NBC show, Scovell wrote, because she saw "I was not going to thrive professionally in that workplace. And although there were various reasons for that, sexual politics did play a major part."When Letterman asked why she was leaving the New York-based show, she says she considered telling him the truth but balked because his "rumored mistress" was within earshot. Instead, Scovell writes, she told him she missed Los Angeles.
A former writer for David Letterman said she quit his NBC talk show in part because of alleged sexual favoritism and a hostile work environment.Nell Scovell, writing for Vanity Fair online Tuesday, said she had no intention of filing a lawsuit and wasn't seeking revenge.Scovell, who went on to a successful Hollywood career, said in a telephone interview.In the Vanity Fair article, Scovell said Letterman didn't "hit on her" during her roughly five-month stint with NBC's "Late Night with David Letterman" in 1990.Other high-level male employees were having sexual relationships with female staffers as well, she alleges, and the women gained professional benefits from those relationships.CBS News producer Robert J. "Joe" Halderman has pleaded not guilty to trying to extort $2 million from Letterman to keep some of the comedian's sexual affairs quiet. Scovell wrote she doesn't intend to seek legal action.Instead, she said, she wants to call attention to the complete lack of women writers on all talk shows, whether hosted by Letterman or NBC's Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien.She quit Letterman's NBC show, Scovell wrote, because she saw "I was not going to thrive professionally in that workplace. And although there were various reasons for that, sexual politics did play a major part."When Letterman asked why she was leaving the New York-based show, she says she considered telling him the truth but balked because his "rumored mistress" was within earshot. Instead, Scovell writes, she told him she missed Los Angeles.
