August 17, 2011
Militant makes death threat against David Letterman
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David Letterman during an interview on the Late Show in New York City on June 13, 2011. DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley/Released
A Muslim militant has urged American followers to assassinate U.S. talk show host David Letterman, saying his tongue deserves to be cut out, a U.S. intelligence monitoring group said on Wednesday.
The SITE intelligence group said the death threat was posted on an online website used by militants after the writer became upset by a joke Letterman made about the death of a leading member of al Qaeda killed in an airstrike in Pakistan.
The militant called on Muslims in the United States to “cut the tongue of this lowly Jew and shut it forever,” the threat against Letterman said, according to a translation by SITE. The popular late-night television host is not Jewish.
The writer was angered by watching Letterman on his show drawing his finger across his neck while talking about the June death of senior al-Qaeda figure Ilyas Kashmiri.
The message was posted on the website Shumukh al-Islam. SITE analyst Adam Raisman told Entertainment Weekly that the website is “a clearing house for al-Qaeda material” and draws supporters of the group headed by the late Osama bin Laden.
Executives at broadcaster CBS and a spokesman for Letterman on Wednesday declined to comment on the threat.
Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte
