Looking back, it seems more and more pop culture moments from the 1990s would never fly today. For example: This clip of actress Jennifer Aniston on The Late Show With David Letterman from 1998 that has recently resurfaced. While some may have laughed when it originally aired, now that it's making the rounds on the internet in 2023, people are calling it out for what it is: A disgusting and bizarre imbalance of power on David’s part.
Before the part of the clip shown here, Jennifer had been explaining that she often saw admirers of her in the steam room at her gym, and things only got more awkward with David from there.
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The whole situation is awkward.
In the clip, Jennifer is sitting in the chair directly next to David’s desk. Slowly, he moves out from behind the desk, still in his chair. "Forgive me if this is rude, I just want to try one thing," he says, sliding up behind her.
She is visibly nervous and yelps when he gets right up behind her. Can you blame her?
What happens next is more than a little weird.
David proceeds to take one of Jennifer's braids and puts it in his mouth, holding it there for several seconds.
"What are you doing?" she asks as he glides back to his desk, handing her a tissue to wipe his spit from her hair.
"I’m sorry, something to do with the steam room," he replies flippantly.
You can sense her discomfort just by watching the clip.
Jennifer then tries to play things off, making a big show of shoving the tissue in her pocket. She is flustered, but tries to hide it with her typically bubbly tone of voice. David, meanwhile, is acting as if what he has just done is totally normal and acceptable behavior.
Then she points out the people in the audience who are also shocked by David’s behavior. "Oh yeah, people are horrified," he says.
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She even apologized!
David then goes on to blame Jennifer for "ruining it for me" because she dared to scream when he got too close to her.
She then apologizes for her reaction, even though it is perfectly normal and acceptable to be utterly horrified when a man puts your hair in his mouth — whether he happens to be a famous late-night host or not.
People are coming to Jen's defense.
Twitter users are reacting to the clip with similar feelings of shock.
"Can't get over how creepy and disturbing this clip of Jennifer Aniston on Letterman is," wrote the fan who originally shared the clip.
“He didn't even address why he did it!" another person wrote. "He just gaslighted her by saying she is wrong for screaming and scaring him."
This kind of behavior wasn't OK in 1998, and it's definitely not OK now. Hopefully, this video getting attention will be a reminder of that.
