# Maya Rudolph insulted by Letterman? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 29, 2022, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967 "2022-10-29T15:37:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967/41 "2022-10-29T20:34:22Z")
Letterman used to rib his guests by pretending not to know common things about them. I remember he asked Jane Curtin whether she was Kate or Allie, and her reaction indicated that he had done so previously (she had a tape cued up of her asking, “Who the hell is David Letterman?”) Possibly, sarcasm that Rudolph wasn’t on to? Which I guess is unlikely if she was a lifelong fan. FTR I knew who Rudolph was from her starring in Idiocracy in 2005, and I learned she was the daughter of Minnie Riperton around the same time. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967/42 "2022-10-29T20:52:01Z")
That was marvelous, thanks for posting it! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967/43 "2022-10-29T21:03:52Z")
Man, EW and People are trolling deep and hard for _any_ Hollywood Drama. Whatever to get ad clicks I guess. Don’t get me wrong, she had a legit beef… back over a decade ago. Not to mention, that is a pretty real apology. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967/44 "2022-10-29T21:34:49Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I sometimes get irked when people who should know better spell my last name as -sky instead of -ski in emails Same for me, but in the opposite direction. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967/45 "2022-10-29T21:41:41Z")
Yes, but did he get any egg-white in her omelet? ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967/46 "2022-10-29T21:42:16Z")
Uhhhh…classmates with Cameron Diaz? Minnie Ripertons daughter? Dunno who she is. j/k ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967/47 "2022-10-29T21:50:36Z")
> [@Pavelb1](#): > > Minnie Ripertons daughter? Watch the video which I posted above: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Uukmn2juvLc/hqdefault.jpg "Minnie Riperton - Lovin' You live on The Midnight Special 1975") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uukmn2juvLc&t=5s) Listening to it should tell you enough to understand why she was a famous singer. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967/48 "2022-10-29T22:06:08Z")
It seems odd that you would say your kid’s name several times at the end of a song about hot steamy sex. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967/49 "2022-10-29T22:12:00Z")
This was funny. Letterman was not. That said, he couldn’t possibly have expected most in the audience to recognize or appreciate the connection. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967/50 "2022-10-29T22:37:04Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > a song about hot steamy sex Really? Read the lyrics of the song. Sure, some of it is about hot steamy sex, but it’s possible to interpret much of it in other ways: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zLMYcqBmiX8/hqdefault.jpg "Minnie Riperton - Lovin' You (Lyrics)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLMYcqBmiX8) ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2022, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967/51 "2022-10-29T22:54:43Z")
I just found this interview he did almost three years ago about the Oscar gig, and he doesn’t acknowledge any connection to Yma Dream, so maybe I was wrong to make the connection. It certainly seems like the kind of thing he would have read, though. > **[David Letterman Reflects on His “Oprah-Uma” Oscars 25 Years Later: An...](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/david-letterman-reflects-hosting-oprah-uma-oscars-1995-1273902/)** > > David Letterman opens up for the first time in a deep-dive forensic comedy analysis of how and why his 1995 Oscars hosting gig bombed: “My personality was attacking itself.” ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2022, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967/52 "2022-10-30T00:11:26Z")
I should have been more clear. I was being facetious in that I know her as Cameron Diaz’s classmate and being Minnie Rippertons daughter. And you’re right Minnie was amazing ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2022, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967/53 "2022-10-30T00:37:44Z")
I think it’s just _People_ trolling for ad clicks. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2022, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967/54 "2022-10-30T01:20:52Z")
Well, I assume that it’s the same “you” she’s referring to throughout the song. But maybe Maya was the product of all that “lovin you”. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2022, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967/55 "2022-10-30T01:47:39Z")
I think of ‘Lovin’ You’ as being the typical sort of love song where the sexual references are not directly made but easy to understand for an adult. Maya Rudolph was nine days short of her third birthday when that episode of _The Midnight Special_ was shown on television. A lot of _The Midnight Special_ was done live (which was rare for a television show at the time). Supposedly during that particular performance Maya Rudolph was just off the side of the stage (or somewhere that she could see her mother looking at her). Supposedly Minnie Riperton was looking at her as she sang, trying to indicate to her that the song was about loving her. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2022, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967/56 "2022-10-30T02:09:40Z")
A couple of years ago, there was news of Maya accusing people like Jimmy Fallon and the other male idiots of soft bigotry for complaining about the smell when her hair was in in hot curlers. But it had zero effect on her subsequent SNL appearances….so since then I really don’t pay much to things like this with her. On a different note, an article described her as a “Jewish black woman”….interesting. I always just thought of her as Maya Rudolph. If anything I thought she identified as Hispanic. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2022, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967/57 "2022-10-30T03:49:07Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > I think it’s just _People_ trolling for ad clicks. Absolutely. It could have been a story… a decade ago. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2022, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967/58 "2022-10-30T08:27:08Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > This was funny. Letterman was not. That said, he couldn’t possibly have expected most in the audience to recognize or appreciate the connection. Maybe Letterman is merely a klutz and bungled her name just as he said. Coincidentally, I just got home from a trip spent listening to [Blind Pilot](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eD4mS3aLns) on Spotify. Having never heard of them until they popped up on Fleet Foxes Radio, I looked them up. Wikipedia mentioned: > To promote _We Are The Tide_ on January 6, 2012, the band made their second network television appearance on the _Late Show with [David Letterman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Letterman),_ in which Letterman initially introduced the band as “Blind Spot” before correcting himself and poking fun at the gaffe. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967/59 "2022-10-31T15:14:30Z")
I note that Dave Chapelle takes great delight in telling how the MC bungled his name in his first appearance and an older comedian stole his jokes. As in, " I guess you know my name. NOW, don’t you. bitch". ---
**Author:** ![DrAndreban](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drandreban/32/12465_2.png) [@DrAndreban](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrAndreban)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967/60 "2022-10-31T16:14:41Z")
“A video from Rudolph’s ‘Late Show’ appearance ([Maya Rudolph Says Appearance on David Letterman’s Show Left Her ‘Humiliated’](https://www.thedailybeast.com/maya-rudolph-says-appearance-on-david-lettermans-show-left-her-humiliated)) posted by The Daily Beast shows Letterman’s introduction of the actor. After sharing the name of her new movie, **the host seemingly calls her ‘Amaya Rudolph.’** \* At the end of their chat, Letterman says, ‘I’m sorry that I mispronounced your name. I’m just a boob. There’s no excuse for it, and from the bottom of my heart I sincerely apologize.’ Rudolph responds, ‘Thank you, Dave.’” - ['00s "SNL" Star Says She Was "Humiliated" by David Letterman During Interview](https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/00s-snl-star-says-she-151111359.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maya-rudolph-insulted-by-letterman/973967.md?page=4)