In late night television years the ban of director Harmony Korine, in 1999, by David Letterman, compares to the Pete Rose ban in baseball, but after revealing Monday, on "The Late Show," that the shunning was due to Letterman catching Korine rifling through Meryl Streep's purse, it all makes sense,
For almost a decade, the beef between Letterman and Korine was unknown, but thanks to actor James Franco, who was on "The Late Show" to promote his latest film that was directed by Korine, Letterman told the story.
It happened when Franco turned the interview to focus on Korine.
"I heard Korine was banned from the show after he pushed [Meryl] Streep backstage," Franco said.
The look on Letterman's face clearly showed that he wanted nothing to do with the topic, but Franco kept on speaking, "Harmony is a very sane guy now -- a great artist and great person to work with. But I think he had a period where he was going a little off the rails, so maybe he was on something that night," he said.
This is when the "Late Show" host gave in and spilled the beens, sort of speak.
"I went upstairs to greet Meryl Streep and welcome her to the show, and I knock on the door ... and she was not in there," Letterman said of the last time Korine visited the "Late Show" studio in the late 1990s. "And I looked around, and she was not in there, and I found Harmony going through her purse. True story. And so I said: 'That's it. Put her things back in her bag and then get out.'"
"So, you kicked him off?" Franco asked Letterman, to which the talk-show host nodded emphatically as the studio audience applauded.
However, trusting Franco that the troubled director has changed Letterman said he would be "more than happy" to have him back as a guest.
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