Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

No Joke: Letterman Threatened by Jihadist Website

“Lowly Jew” David Letterman must die!

That’s the pronouncement of jihadist website Shumukh al-Islam, which sentenced Letterman — a Protestant — to death because of a joke he made about the killing of Ilyas Kashmiri, a top al Qaeda official who died in a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan.

Shumukh al-Islam — which apparently watches late-night talk shows? — suggested supporters “cut the tongue of the lowly Jew and shut it forever,” also referring to Letterman as a “sick Jew with defined features.” (Perhaps they had been discussing Howard Stern with Andy Dick and got confused?)

The FBI doesn’t know of any specific plans targeting Letterman, but is reportedly investigating anyway. Letterman is currently on vacation, and his production company is not commenting on the issue.

Jihadist threats are no laughing matter, but the Shmooze nevertheless suspects Letterman will wring a good “Top 10” list out of this after his return.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.