![]() Tweeden accuses him of forcibly kissing her and of posing for a photo with his hands on her breasts as she slept. Leeann Tweeden, Al Franken's accuser, speaks out on groping allegations Leeann Tweeden described her encounter with Al Franken during a USO tour in 2006. I shouldn’t have done it.” According to The Washington Post, Franken, a Democrat, was an “Air America radio host at the time of the alleged incident” and “was elected to the Senate two years later, in 2008.” He then released a much lengthier statement: ![]() As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasn’t. You can see it later in this article.įranken released a statement after Tweeden published her account, saying, “I certainly don’t remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way, but I send my sincerest apologies to Leeann. Tweeden alleges that the incident with the Minnesota senator occurred as she “embarked on my ninth USO Tour to entertain our troops, my eighth to the Middle East since the 9/11 attacks.” She included a photo with the essay that appears to show Franken grabbing her breasts while she is sleeping in military gear. ![]() #MeToo,” she wrote, using the hashtag that took off in the wake of the accusations against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, as people throughout the United States have shared stories of sexual abuse and harassment. “I’ve decided it’s time to tell my story. Leeann Tweeden, a morning news anchor on TalkRadio 790 KABC in Los Angeles and well-known model, is accusing Senator Al Franken of groping and kissing her without her consent while they were performing in a 2006 military tour overseas. Tweeden accepted Franken's apology, but said he could have apologized long ago.Leeann Tweeden attends the 27th Annual Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Sports Spectacular at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza hotel on in Century City, That said, Franken still wrote that he doesn't "remember the rehearsal for the skit as Leeann does." And the fact that my own actions have given people reason to doubt that makes me feel ashamed." "The first thing I want to do is apologize: to Leeann, to everyone else who was part of that tour, to everyone who has worked for me, to everyone I represent, and to everyone who counts on me to be an ally and supporter and champion of women," Franken wrote. In response, Franken initially wrote that he doesn't "remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way," and said the photo "was clearly intended to be funny but wasn't." He later followed that up with a larger statement. How dare anyone grab my breasts like this and think it’s funny?"Īngry but worried about what going public might do to her career, Tweeden didn't speak out at the time. He groped me, without my consent, while I was asleep. Someone photographed Franken groping her during the flight, and she saw the image while looking through pictures of the trip. Tweeden writes that she fell asleep on the plane home from Afghanistan. I immediately pushed him away with both of my hands against his chest and told him if he ever did that to me again I wouldn’t be so nice about it the next time." We did the line leading up to the kiss and then he came at me, put his hand on the back of my head, mashed his lips against mine and aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth. "I said ‘OK’ so he would stop badgering me. "He continued to insist, and I was beginning to get uncomfortable," she writes. ![]() When he first told her they needed to rehearse the kiss, Tweeden says she laughed. Tweeden writes that she was on the tour to emcee, but Franken wrote a part in one of his skits that had the two of them kiss. Watching Elizabeth Warren tell her #MeToo story will ruin your weekįranken – then known as a comedian – performed on the tour. ![]()
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