Bill Donohue to David Letterman: Goodbye and Good Riddance

Bill Donohue has issued a not-so-sweet farewell to David Letterman: Good riddance!

Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, said the gap-toothed funnyman has bashed Catholics for years on CBS' "The Late Show with David Letterman."

Donohue told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV that he's "delighted" to see Letterman retiring.

"Yesterday he sat down with Jane Pauley and he said, 'I don't think you'll ever hear from me again.' I would hope that that is, in fact, the case," Donohue said.

"We have a whole litany of his anti-Catholic statements, particularly about priests ... He gets away with this because the elites tolerate, if not accept, anti-Catholicism."

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Among the quips about Catholics that Letterman has made over the years, according to about.com, are:

• "I read this in the paper this morning: New York City has a priest shortage. So you see, there is some good news in the world . . . To give you an idea how bad it is, earlier today in Brooklyn an altar boy had to grope himself."
• "The Catholic Church is finally cracking down. Here's the deal now: If a priest is transferred to another parish, he cannot take his live-in boyfriend."
• "The Catholic Church has just opened a new $2 million cathedral in Los Angeles. They really spared no expense. Each confessional has a panic button in it."
• "Bush said we're going after white-collar criminals and I'm thinking, 'Gee, I wish the Catholic Church would do that."

Letterman's final broadcast will be on Wednesday, May 20, ending a 33-year run as a late-night host — the longest in television history.

Donohue also hammered comedian Louis C.K., who has written for the Letterman show, for his controversial routine about child abuse when he hosted "Saturday Night Live" last weekend.

"He's making fun and making light of child molestation ... Five years ago, I'm not going to repeat it ... but he used the 'f' word to talk about Pope Benedict and children," Donohue said.

"I'd like to know, why does this man have child rape on his mind, Louis C.K.?"

In his monologue, Louis C.K. told the "SNL" audience: "I love Mounds bars, it's my favorite thing, but there's a limit. They are delicious, and yet if someone said to me, 'You eat another Mounds bar and you'll go to jail and everybody will hate you,' I would stop eating them. Because they do taste delicious, but they don't taste as good as a young boy does to a child molester."

Donohue is author of "The Catholic Advantage: Why Health, Happiness, and Heaven Await the Faithful," published by Image.

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