Last night David Letterman scored "a worldwide scoop"—as the Associated Press enviously puts it—when he was the first person ON EARTH to reveal the cover of the momentous 2011 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. But proving once again that the old media dinosaurs just can't compete with today's instant internet news-hounds, Letterman himself was scooped when, six hours before his show aired, Twitter user @ranibanani4 published a photograph of the cover plastered on a giant billboard near the Late Show studios.
"I saw it from my office window," Wardlaw tells Huff Post. "They unveiled the billboard for a few minutes to tape it for the Letterman Show and then covered it back up. I guess they didn't cover it fast enough!" Chalk another one up for citizen journalism! For reference purposes, please find attached a photograph of the billboard, an image of the magazine cover featuring 25-year-old Russian-born model Irina Shayk, and photographs of the models arriving at the Late Show yesterday. At press time, it was unclear why they were wearing so many articles of clothing; we can only speculate that immediately following the taping, they all joined a convent to lead lives of solemn self-reflection.
