David Letterman Death Threat Posted on Jihadist Website
The life of David Letterman, comedian and host of “Late Night with David Letterman,” was recently threatened on a jihadist website, causing the authorities to get involved on Wednesday.
Umar al-Basrawi, a commenter on the website, called for his fellow jihads to permanently silence Letterman.
“Is there not among you a Sayyid Nosair al-Mairi ... to cut the tongue of this lowly Jew and shut it forever,” Al-Basrawi questioned on his posting, referring to the man who killed Jewish Defense League founder Meir Kahane over two decades ago.
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The frequent poster on the website who referred to the Presbyterian-raised Letterman as Jewish, was upset about a June 8 comment made on the comedian's show, according to Entertainment Weekly. Letterman joked about the death of Osama bin Laden and IIyas Kashmiri, another al-Qaida leader who was killed by a U.S. drone in Pakistan.
“It wasn’t going to work anyway. They got off to a rocky start with this guy,” Letterman said about the relationship between Bin Laden and his alleged successor, Kashmiri. “He botched up the story of Paul Revere.”
Although Letterman was aiming to take a shot at former vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin, who formerly attempted to reference Paul Revere, amNew York reported that Al-Basrawi felt the comedian was making fun of the Muslim and Islamic community.
“(Letterman) showed his evil nature and deep hatred for Islam and Muslims,” Al-Basrawi wrote in his posting.
Adam Raisman, analyst for Site Monitoring Service, a private intelligence company that monitors online activity and spotted the posting, said although there’s a possibility that the threats are not serious, Letterman should not take them lightly.
“The concern is that there is someone who will read it, agree with it and say, 'I want to be the Sayyid Nosair of 2011 and kill David Letterman,’” Raisman told Entertainment Weekly.
The analyst called the website that featured the posting, “a clearing house for al-Qaida material.”
He mentioned why the threat was so serious.
“It gets the most al-Qaida supporters,” Raisman said of the website.
According to FOX News, Letterman will continue to film his live show this week. However, the FBI said they would investigate the matter.
“We take every potential threat seriously,” said Jim Margolin, an FBI spokesperson.
