'Late Show' Cue Card Guy Speaks Up After Being Fired for Attacking Writer
TV

Tony Mendez, who had been working with David Letterman since 1993, realizes that he shouldn't have put his hands on the show's writer Bill Scheft but he doesn't 'regret things in life.'

AceShowbiz - "Late Show with David Letterman" has let go of its longtime cue card guy. The show's veteran Tony Mendez was fired after assaulting writer Bill Scheft backstage at the CBS show during rehearsal on October 9.

To the New York Post, Mendez explains what happened before and during the incident. He says that it was triggered by a verbal argument a day earlier, before the show's Thursday taping.

"[Scheft] encroaches on my work. He tells me what to do, and I have to say, 'I know what I'm doing,' " he says of the Emmy-nominated writer. "Bill was always undermining me - making himself out as Dave's No. 1. Trying to pretend that I wasn't even in the room ... little passive-aggressive things."

During the rehearsal with David Letterman on Wednesday, October 8, Mendez says Scheft interrupted him and he responded, "I know what I'm doing. Get off my back." The host reacted, "Tony, your sour disposition isn't helping," and Mendez snapped back, "You're the one who has the sour disposition, mothf**ker."

Mendez admits he was "pissed off," but claims, "That's how we talk. We tell each other 'F**k you' and 'Hey a**hole.' He doesn't do that with anybody - but he feels comfortable with me. That brings a bit of normalcy - because everyone else is like, 'Yes, yes, Mr. Letterman. If you want something impossible, yes, we'll do it, Mr. Letterman.' "

He continues sharing, "I wanted to tell Dave how much that hurt my feelings. And then I realized that this is what Bill was doing. He was trying to create a wedge between us so Dave would think I was an a**hole."

So instead of talking to Letterman about his feelings, he snapped at Scheft the next morning. "I just grabbed him by the shirt," Mendez recalls. "He was very surprised. He didn't say a word. He was cowering, his eyes were real big, he probably peed a little bit on his pants."

Two CBS sources say Mendez threw a taller Scheft against a wall and he was immediately booted from the theater. On Monday, he was told by "Late Show" executive producer Rob Burnett that he was "officially terminated."

"I'm the first one to say I should have never put my hands on him, but I never hit him. I just grabbed him and got my face in his face," Mendez admits. "I know I shouldn't have put my hands on him. But this has been coming for a long time."

Still, Mendez has no hard feelings for Letterman, with whom he had worked since 1993 when the legendary TV host was at NBC. "Dave has never let me down," he says. "He is the best, the most generous boss I have ever had. Dave would never do anything to harm me."

He adds, "Dave had nothing to do with this at all. He was oblivious to my problem with Bill Scheft. Even Bill was probably oblivious - he does things that he really doesn't know he's doing because he's probably too wrapped up in himself, I guess."

Mendez, who was regularly featured on-air during broadcasts, says the show offered to pay his salary and maintain his health insurance until Letterman's retirement in May.

Scheft has not commented on the incident. Sources say the writer, who didn't show up to work until Friday, has been telling colleagues he has post traumatic stress disorder after the assault.

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