David Letterman presented an unplanned week of reruns last week, as he was forced to tighten security around him after a death threat from a suspected Islamic extremist was issued against him on the Internet.
The FBI says it is taking very seriously threats made against the host of the CBS talkfest “The Late Show with David Letterman,” after a missive was posted on the Shumuka al-Islam site that asked: “Is there not among you a Sayyid Nosair al-Mairi … to cut the tongue of this lowly Jew and shut it forever?” (Apparently, the writer was unaware that Letterman is not Jewish). The threat was in response to a series of jokes Letterman made about the death of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his short lived successor Ilyas Kashmiri, who only had one eye and was killed in June during an attack by U.S. forces in Pakistan.
New security procedures were put into place last week during Letterman’s unscheduled hiatus, and will be fully active when the host returns to the Ed Sullivan Theatre in Manhattan later today to resume taping of the show. Letterman himself has not yet responded to the threat, although he is expected to in some capacity. But sources say that “The Late Show” team of writers have no intention of backing down, censoring their material, or cowering down to the threats.
