In a new interview on Good Morning America, the woman who accused Senator Al Franken of sexual misconduct says she is “not calling for him to step down.”
As previously reported, radio host Leeann Tweeden recently alleged that Franken was sexually aggressive with her during a USO tour the two were a part of together, and she even presented a photograph that showed Franken simulating grabbing her chest while she was asleep.
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During her GMA interview, Tweeden expressed that her goal was not to get him removed from office, but rather to shine light on his misdeeds.
“I didn’t do this to have him step down. I think Al Franken does a lot of good things in the Senate,” Tweeden replied when asked if she though he should resign. “You know, I think that’s for the people of Minnesota to decide. I’m not calling for him to step down. That was never my intention.
“I just wanted him to understand what he did was wrong and how he treated me and how abusers do that under the guise that it’s funny, or that ‘Oh, I can get away with it because I’m a comedian,’ Tweeden added. “That’s never funny. When you shine a light on it, that’s the culture of it — that’s the chance we need to make.”
Only a day after Tweeden accused Franken of sexual harassment, a sexual assault joke he once wrote for Saturday Night Live re-emerged. Back in 1995, Franken wrote for and was featured on the long-running sketch comedy series.
While writing a sketch that lampooned 60 Minutes host Andy Rooney as a cantankerous elderly man who was out of touch with society, Franken reportedly suggested that Rooney should rape 60 Minutes contributor Lesley Stahl.
In this particular sketch, Franken’s fellow Saturday Night Live castmate Norm Macdonald would portray Rooney and have a bottle of pills that he would suggest using to knock someone unconscious with.
Macdonald reportedly suggested that Rooney could say something like, “I don’t know what the pills are for – what I do know is, the bottle is mostly filled with cotton.”
”And, ‘I give the pills to Lesley Stahl. Then, when Lesley’s passed out, I take her to the closet and rape her,’” Franken chimed in with.
That report originally surfaced in 2008, when Franken was running for office in Minnesota. When confronted with the report, Franken’s campaign responded, “Al understands, and the people of Minnesota understand, the difference between what a satirist does and what a senator does.”
