Talk show titan David Letterman has issued a decade-old apology to veteran comedy writer Nell Scovell.
Scovell — one of the few female writers who worked on “Late Night With David Letterman” — spilled the beans about its toxic environment behind the scenes in a Vanity Fair essay that went viral in 2009.
“There’s a subset of sexual harassment called sexual favoritism that, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, can lead to a ‘hostile work environment,’ often ‘creating an atmosphere that is demeaning to women.’ And that pretty much sums up my experience at ‘Late Night with David Letterman,’ ” Scovell wrote.
Scovell, 58, was the second woman ever recruited for the late-night legend’s writers room. She stayed for just five months in 1990. After “Late Night,” Scovell moved on to shows such as “Murphy Brown” and “Coach,” and she created “Sabrina the Teenage Witch.” In her 2009 piece, she described the dearth of women in the office — and the since-confirmed rumors that Letterman was having affairs with female staffers.
In a follow-up piece published Wednesday, Scovell describes a recent meeting she had with Letterman, 72, in which the late-night legend apologized for his treatment of women on his staff.
“When I read that document you wrote 10 years ago, I just thought, ‘There’s nothing to be upset about here. It happened, that’s all true,’ ” Letterman said, according to Scovell.
“I thought, Holy s–t, this is so disturbing and, sadly, a perspective that I did not have … I’m sorry I was that way and I was happy to have read the piece because it wasn’t angering. I felt horrible because who wants to be the guy that makes people unhappy to work where they’re working? I don’t want to be that guy. I’m not that guy now. I was that guy then.”
Letterman did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment on Scovell’s latest essay.
The former stand-up comic’s talk shows ran from 1982 to 1993 (“Late Night With David Letterman”) on NBC, followed by a 1993-2015 run (“The Late Show With David Letterman”) on CBS. That two-decade-plus stretch makes him the longest-running late-night talk show host in TV history.
The Indiana native was long rumored to have affairs with staffers and assistants — and infamously admitted it on-air in 2009 but never faced consequences from the Les Moonves-helmed CBS. He’s still married to his wife, Regina Lasko.
Scovell maintains that Letterman never came on to her, but said her former CBS boss Jim Stafford did when she worked on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” in 1988.
“This is the remarkable story of a rich white male celebrity who abused his power and then apologized for it,” Scovell wrote.
Letterman is currently back on Netflix with the interview show “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.” Scovell wrote a book about her experiences, “Just the Funny Parts: … And a Few Hard Truths About Sneaking Into the Hollywood Boys’ Club.”