Salon.com Slams Final Letterman Shows as being "Unbearably White"

Salon.com is happy to see David Letterman go. Not because they think he was unfunny, but because he had too many white people on his show, particularly in its final days.

In an article titled, "The unbearable whiteness of the Letterman farewells: Let this truly be the end of a show-business era," Salon took Letterman to task for inviting white actors and actresses on his final shows, but few minorities.

"You'd never know" that American culture has a large minority presence, Salon author Scott Timberg writes.

Referencing the last few shows before Letterman left the air, Timberg writes, "Some of the heavy hitters so far on the walk down memory lane have included Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Bob Dylan, George Clooney, Don Rickles, Ryan Adams, Adam Sandler, Tom Waits, Howard Stern and Bill Clinton."

He then asks, "But what’s missing from this list?" The answer: minorities, specifically African Americans.

"Anyone who’s watched a movie or television show or been to a comedy club knows there been a deep and rich lineage of African-American humor," Timberg notes.

Letterman

He then demands to know, "the best we can do – as we wrap up 33 years of a show that ran almost every night, and had pretensions to “edginess” — is Tom Hanks and Eddie Vedder? No bro-hug reprise with Key and Peele, even?"

In the end, while it's sad to see Letterman go, Timberg believes he is drastically behind the times.

He explains, "No show needs to end with an earnest group hug of pan-racial affirmation: This is television comedy, not a “dialogue about race.” But Letterman seems like he’s offering a farewell from 1955 rather than 2015."