Cher Calls Letterman an A-Hole

May 22nd, 1986: Cher makes her memorable first appearance on Letterman show

It’s not easy to get Cher on your show. Just ask David Letterman, who asked her to appear on his late night talk show as a guest for four years and, by Cher’s account paid a $28,000 hotel bill to seal the deal. The reason she kept turning the appearance down? She thought he was an asshole. She didn’t just think it, she said it right to his face during her debut appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman on May 22, 1986.

While Letterman was probably aware of his reputation as a tough interviewer whose segments could go rogue, he was clearly not accustomed to his guests pointing it out to him — and certainly not on the air.

Cher’s appearance got off to an inauspicious start. Her first conversation wasn’t with the host, but bandleader Paul Shaffer, with whom she’d worked in the past. After successfully wrangling his guest’s attention, Letterman tried some light-hearted talk, mentioning to Cher how much her liked her perfume. After revealing that she actually combined fragrances – and sensing how boring this line of discussion was for viewers – Cher looked at Letterman and smugly asked, “Is this as good as it gets?”

The conversation continued to be awkward yet cordial, until Letterman addressed the elephant in the room and asked the singer why she turned his show down for so many years.

“I thought I would never want to do this show with you,” she tells him.

“Why? Because you thought I was…” Letterman replies.

“An A–hole,” Cher says, filling in the blank.

This being network TV, it’s bleeped out, but it’s clear from the audience reaction what Cher said.

“For you folks at home that missed it, she said I was an ‘awfully nice guy,'” Letterman says.

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In her memoir The First Time, Cher explains that Letterman’s producer asked her before the show why she hadn’t come on in the past, and she told him it was because she thought the host was “kind of an a–hole.” He clearly relayed this information to Letterman, who used it to create some tension.

“I really didn’t mean to say it,” Cher wrote. “But then I looked at him smirking at me, and suddenly the words just jumped out of my mouth.”