Al-Basrawi, reportedly from Iraq, described Letterman as “a sick Jew with defined features.” The late-night comedian was raised Presbyterian.
The website’s message board is “a clearing house for al-Qaida material. It gets the most al-Qaida supporters,” SITE analyst Adam Raisman told Entertainment Weekly.
Al-Basrawi reportedly took offense at Letterman’s June 8th monologue, in which he mocked the death of Ilyas Kashmiri, a senior al-Qaida leader and possible successor to Osama bin Laden, who was killed in a drone attack in Pakistan days earlier.
Al-Basrawi, however, didn’t find it funny, saying Letterman “showed his evil nature and deep hatred for Islam and Muslims.”
A spokesman for Letterman declined to comment yesterday. The NYPD and FBI said they’re investigating the threat.
Shamsi Ali, associate imam of the Islamic Cultural Center of New York, called the posting against Letterman “ignorant.”
Other threats
In one episode, they depicted Mohammad in a bear costume, which led to online death threats.
SITE Intelligence Group, a company that monitors extremist chatter on the Internet, has identified posts on a Jihadist chat forum that call for the killing of Letterman -- and the cutting out of his tongue -- for jokes he made regarding the death of a terrorist leader.
According to SITE, the threat was made by a "frequent commenter" who identifies himself (or herself) as Umar al-Basrawi. He was offended by a joke that Letterman made after the U.S. military announced that they had killed al-Qaida leader Ilyas Kashmiri in Pakistan. Is there not amongst you a Sayyid Nosair al-Masri (may Allah release him) to cut the tongue of this lowly Jew and shut it forever. Letterman's not Jewish, but that's besides the point. Was Letterman's joke distasteful? To take something Letterman said so literally is ridiculous. David Letterman has been targeted by a prominent jihadist internet forum which has called on radical Muslims to "cut the tongue of" the popular US late-night comedian.
A contributor to the shumukh al-Islam online forum claimed Letterman had insulted Osama bin Laden and another senior al-Qaida leader Ilyas Kashmiri in a skit on his late night CBS show.
"To cut the tongue of this lowly Jew and shut it forever?"
The shumukh al-Islam forum is a popular online destination for radical Muslims and is often used by al-Qaida, said Adam Raisman, analyst at The Site Monitoring Service.
Executives at broadcaster CBS and a spokesman for Letterman both declined to comment on the threat.
Letterman has been the target of criminal threats in the past.