Al Franken Accused of Sexual Assault

[Belsnickel]

http://www.kabc.com/2017/11/16/leeann-tweeden-on-senator-al-franken/

Gotta say, he needs to go. This is reprehensible behavior and is unacceptable of anyone.

[GMDino]

(11-16-2017, 01:01 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: http://www.kabc.com/2017/11/16/leeann-tweeden-on-senator-al-franken/

Gotta say, he needs to go. This is reprehensible behavior and is unacceptable of anyone.

Wow.  Very disappointed.  Yeah,  that's indefensible and he should go.

[GMDino]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/al-franken-apologizes-radio-anchor-forcibly-kissed-lewd/story?id=51196065

Quote:Sen. Al Franken is the latest person to be accused of sexual misconduct, in this case by a female radio host who worked with him as part of a USO tour to entertain the troops in Afghanistan.


Leeann Tweeden, who is a radio news anchor based in Los Angeles, wrote about what she says was her experience on KABC's website this morning.

She claims that in 2006, when Franken was a comedian and not yet a senator, he insisted on kissing her as part of a rehearsal for an act. He later groped her while she was asleep on a plane, she also claimed.

Franken, who was elected as a Democratic senator for Minnesota in 2008, responded to the accusations in a statement this morning.

“I certainly don’t remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way, but I send my sincerest apologies to Leeann. As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasn't. I shouldn't have done it,” he said.

Tweeden said she and Franken traveled to Afghanistan to entertain U.S. troops stationed there.

"On the day of the show Franken and I were alone backstage going over our lines one last time. He said to me, 'We need to rehearse the kiss.' I laughed and ignored him. Then he said it again. I said something like, ‘Relax Al, this isn’t 'SNL' ... we don’t need to rehearse the kiss.’ He continued to insist, and I was beginning to get uncomfortable," she wrote in her KABC piece.

She said she acquiesced "so that he would stop badgering me" and when he kissed her he "put his hand on the back of my head, mashed his lips against mine and aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth."

"I felt disgusted and violated," she wrote.

The alleged groping incident occurred while Tweeden appears to have been asleep on the plane back to the U.S. She says she was unaware of what allegedly took place until after she had arrived home and was looking through the CD of photos that the photographer on the trip had given her.

The picture shows Tweeden apparently asleep while wearing a helmet and military vest, and Franken looking at the camera while appearing to place his hands on her breasts.

"I couldn’t believe it. He groped me, without my consent, while I was asleep," Tweeden wrote. "I felt violated all over again. Embarrassed. Belittled. Humiliated."

[Belsnickel]

Here is another story on it: http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/senator-al-franken-accused-kissed-groped-without-consent-theres-nothing-funny

Also, it seems McConnell has called for an ethics investigation. Good.

Paper statement from @SenateMajLdr calling for the Ethics Committee to review the Franken allegationshttps://t.co/8LFlDbUBUY pic.twitter.com/x0rqc8nLzJ

— Niels Lesniewski (@nielslesniewski) November 16, 2017

[BmorePat87]

For anyone who didn't read it, here's photographic evidence. No way to defend this behavior. That's assault.




He should do the Senate a favor. Spar them the vote and resign.

[*michaelsean*]

Dude you took a picture? I'm sure it was meant to be a joke, but really?

[*PhilHos*]

I never liked Al Franken. I was indifferent to him when he was on SNL. I disliked him when he moved to politics. Now, this just makes me loathe him.

[Belsnickel]

(11-16-2017, 01:53 PM)michaelsean Wrote: Dude you took a picture? I'm sure it was meant to be a joke, but really?

Quite a few people on Twitter are asking "who took the picture and did nothing?" The sad thing to me is that I know things like this are extremely commonplace.

(11-16-2017, 01:54 PM)PhilHos Wrote: I never liked Al Franken. I was indifferent to him when he was on SNL. I disliked him when he moved to politics. Now, this just makes me loathe him.

I have never found him to be funny, and he has always come across as too arrogant in the political arena considering the bona fides he brings (or doesn't) with him. I know quite a few liberals that have liked him, but I've just been indifferent.

[Millhouse]

That picture is something one would do in college when wasted. Not from someone older than I am right now though.

[Bengalzona]

[StLucieBengal]

This going back and forth from both sides trying to get one another on these type of allegations won’t end well.


As for Al Franken...... not really much of an excuse given the photo.

[*PhilHos*]

(11-16-2017, 02:02 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: Quite a few people on Twitter are asking "who took the picture and did nothing?" The sad thing to me is that I know things like this are extremely commonplace.

According to the article, it was the photographer that went with their group. So I'm assuming it was a professional whose job was to take pictures of evreything on tour. IMO, that just makes it worse.

[*PhilHos*]

(11-16-2017, 02:16 PM)Bengalzona Wrote:

NON SEQUITUR NIPPLES!!! :drool:

[GMDino]

(11-16-2017, 02:03 PM)Millhouse Wrote: That picture is something one would do in college when wasted. Not from someone older than I am right now though.

Since we all seem to be in agreement that this crossed the line I don't feel bad derailing a bit:

I had a conversation last week with a neighbor about all these accusations.  I said it makes me sit back and wonder if someone, anyone could come up to me today and tell me that something that happened 30 years or more ago and that was innocent and fun now crossed that line.  Heck in college we had WWF style wrestling in our room with the girls, we all said inappropriate things to be "funny", etc.  At the time no one complained.  What about now?

I can probably remember four or five times that looking back were not the best personally.

And the rest of us probably have similar events in our past.

The neighbor said he knew guys that might have had four or five incidences in a night when they were in college. 

Not trying to justify anyone or any event...just pondering.

[Millhouse]

(11-16-2017, 02:29 PM)GMDino Wrote: Since we all seem to be in agreement that this crossed the line I don't feel bad derailing a bit:

I had a conversation last week with a neighbor about all these accusations.  I said it makes me sit back and wonder if someone, anyone could come up to me today and tell me that something that happened 30 years or more ago and that was innocent and fun now crossed that line.  Heck in college we had WWF style wrestling in our room with the girls, we all said inappropriate things to be "funny", etc.  At the time no one complained.  What about now?

I can probably remember four or five times that looking back were not the best personally.

And the rest of us probably have similar events in our past.

The neighbor said he knew guys that might have had four or five incidences in a night when they were in college. 

Not trying to justify anyone or any event...just pondering.

Yeah I was in college 20 years ago now, and might have done something similar to that picture without touching. You know at a party somewhere and go up behind a good looking girl and act like I am about to grab her butt. Friends start laughin a bit, and that was it. But I never actually touched nor cross that line of touching a girl without her permission. Then girls would do similar things as well. 

But for an older man like him doing that on a transport military plane is completely different imo. If that was of him back in college decades ago so to speak at a party, no one would care as much.

[NATI BENGALS]

She said ok to the kiss and he as a comedian posed for an inappropriate pic meant to be comedic.

Raise your hand if you have never messed with a sleeping friend for laughs.

Im not gonna burn him at the stake for this.

[Bengalzona]

(11-16-2017, 03:25 PM)Millhouse Wrote: Yeah I was in college 20 years ago now, and might have done something similar to that picture without touching. You know at a party somewhere and go up behind a good looking girl and act like I am about to grab her butt. Friends start laughin a bit, and that was it. But I never actually touched nor cross that line of touching a girl without her permission. Then girls would do similar things as well. 

But for an older man like him doing that on a transport military plane is completely different imo. If that was of him back in college decades ago so to speak at a party, no one would care as much.

That is sort of my take on it.

For a frat boy, it is one thing. For a U.S. Senator or celebrity, it is another.

This isn't like the time that Tom Hanks took selfies with the guy who was passed out drunk. It is different.

[Bengalzona]

Who would have ever guessed that AL Franken was planning on running for President?

[*bfine32*]

(11-16-2017, 03:52 PM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: Raise your hand if you have never messed with a sleeping friend for laughs.

There's a difference between "messing with a sleeping friend" and "fondling/objectifying an unconscious woman".  

[Belsnickel]

(11-16-2017, 02:29 PM)GMDino Wrote: Since we all seem to be in agreement that this crossed the line I don't feel bad derailing a bit:

I had a conversation last week with a neighbor about all these accusations.  I said it makes me sit back and wonder if someone, anyone could come up to me today and tell me that something that happened 30 years or more ago and that was innocent and fun now crossed that line.  Heck in college we had WWF style wrestling in our room with the girls, we all said inappropriate things to be "funny", etc.  At the time no one complained.  What about now?

Easily. I tell people all the time that I am a prime example of the fact that the structures that impact cognitive function and decision making are not typically fully developed in the male brain until the mid-twenties.

(11-16-2017, 03:52 PM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: She said ok to the kiss and he as a comedian posed for an inappropriate pic meant to be comedic.

Raise your hand if you have never messed with a sleeping friend for laughs.

Im not gonna burn him at the stake for this.

*raises hand*

But in addition to that, she was not his friend. I know people do that type of shit when they are younger, but it happens with people you have a relationship with on some level beyond just being on a USO tour with them.