The recent allegations of sexual misconduct against Democratic Sen. Al Franken have eery similarities to a past sketch the former comedian proposed that involve drugging and raping a news anchor.
In a 1995 “Saturday Night Live” rehearsal with staff writers, Franken openly pitched a joke involving drugging CBS “60 Minutes” anchor Leslie Stahl, then raping her. The account was captured by New York Magazine, which sat in on the rehearsal.
But years later, news anchor Leeann Tweeden is claiming Franken’s musings played out in his actions, which mirror a record of demeaning women. Tweeden charged Franken touched her breasts and took pictures while she was asleep. The two were traveling as part of a 2006 USO tour in the Middle East.
A photographer later sent her a photo from the tour where Franken is seen with his hands over Tweeden’s breasts as he smiles into the camera.
“You knew exactly what you were doing,” Tweeden wrote Thursday for KABC. “You forcibly kissed me without my consent, grabbed my breasts while I was sleeping and had someone take a photo of you doing it, knowing I would see it later, and be ashamed.”
“I’m still angry at what Al Franken did to me,” she said.
The 1995 account of the SNL skit was captured by New York Magazine which sat in on a rehearsal in which he dreamed up the idea of giving a sleeping pill to Stahl, then raping her.
New York Magazine quotesd Franken as saying, “And ‘I give the pills to Lesley Stahl. Then when Lesley’s passed out, I take her to the closet and rape her.’ Or ‘That’s why you never see Lesley until February.'”
Stephanie Schriock, the current Emily’s List president, served as Franken campaign manager for his 2008 run for the Senate.
“Let me say if it was not for Stephanie Schriock I would not be standing before you as a United States Senator,” he told an overflow audience before the group’s 30th Anniversary gala in 2015.
During his address before the activist women’s group, Franken ridiculed radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh and “countless other meatheads” for their poor treatment of women.
He said their “views of certain ‘gender issues’ are somewhat at odds with ours.”
During the USO tour with Tweeden, Franken also insisted they rehearse a skit which included a kiss, according to the news anchor. She said he grabbed her and “mashed his lips against mine and aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth.”
“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,” Tweeden wrote.
Emily’s List did not respond to a DCNF request for comment.
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