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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBill Maher Disputes NY Post Story Accusing Al Franken of Groping Arianna Huffington
Even Arianna Huffington said the notion that there was anything inappropriate in this photo shoot is truly absurd.
MATT WILSTEIN
11.20.17 11:58 PM ET
There is nothing Bill Maher hates more than people taking comedy too seriously. And that appears to be what Page Sixs Emily Smith has done with a couple of photos taken in 2000 to promote a segment called Strange Bedfellows from Bill Mahers ABC show Politically Incorrect.
The New York Post exclusive features the headline, Newly surfaced pics show Al Franken grabbing Arianna Huffingtons breasts and butt. But what follows hardly delivers on that promise.
Maher responded in a tweet Monday night, calling the article so ridic and such an insult to any real victims, adding, Low even for you, Post.
Link to tweet
Whats most remarkable about the Posts article, however, is that Huffington herself rejects any untoward reading of the photos.
The notion that there was anything inappropriate in this photo shoot is truly absurd, she said in a statement. Al and I did a comedic sketch for Bill Mahers Politically Incorrect called Strange Bedfellows, in which the whole point, as the name makes clear, was that we were doing political commentary from bed. This shoot was looking back at the sketch, and we were obviously hamming it up for comedic effect.
more
https://www.thedailybeast.com/bill-maher-disputes-ny-post-story-accusing-al-franken-of-groping-arianna-huffington
a kennedy
(29,779 posts)another comes to Al's defense.
MelissaB
(16,420 posts)LisaL
(44,985 posts)claims about those to bring Franken down.
democratisphere
(17,235 posts)Don't take the bait.
LisaL
(44,985 posts)Actors doing the movie scenes are going to be accused of sexual harassment?
Chipper Chat
(9,708 posts)The 1971 movie "showing" an underage Gary grimes having sex with a woman in her 30s OMG Fox you need to probe this.
defacto7
(13,485 posts)Chipper Chat
(9,708 posts)I bought it but I noticed the actual brief scene showing them in bed and "doing it" had been deleted.
defacto7
(13,485 posts)for anything that's not censored in one way or another. Welcome to the new usa.
democratisphere
(17,235 posts)legitimate reason. Franken, I believe, is completely innocent. Investigations will prove his innocence.
defacto7
(13,485 posts)mopinko
(70,388 posts)shows how little they can actually find about al.
octoberlib
(14,971 posts)oasis
(49,490 posts)That was always clear.
NoMoreRepugs
(9,519 posts)and demonstrating the utter hypocrisy of the futile cover up of the Russia-Trump collusion is the reason they are grasping at straws IMO.
Jarqui
(10,131 posts)I have a very different feeling about them. Time will probably tell if that feeling is correct
Loubee
(166 posts)and other GOP dirty ops during this time when they would kill to have one less Dem senator.
brush
(53,978 posts)Please, please, please all Democratic senators, do not take any small plane flights.
GoCubsGo
(32,103 posts)The way his questioning induced Sessions to lie his ass off on multiple occasions has them shitting their pants. They know that at least some of them could also wind up on the receiving end of such a grilling.
stonecutter357
(12,699 posts)Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)Deplorables prefer to be lied to so as to ignore the truth that hurts their little brainwashed minds.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Denzil_DC
(7,290 posts)from somebody who claims to have been present at the photo shoot who alleges Franken was very "handsy", lingered his hands too long where "they shouldn't have been", and that Huffington repeatedly asked him to stop.
Desperate stuff.
It's being lapped up by the alt-right, obviously, despite Huffington's own response that it was all concensual and good, clean fun.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)They earned millions from those olden day exploits and large corporations like sony, never could stop them.
Denzil_DC
(7,290 posts)Completely fictional, and very convenient for those who want to believe it. They jumped the shark for most sane people.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)George II
(67,782 posts)tavernier
(12,428 posts)But apparently the true reason being that he had terrible halitosis, as VL reported to many ppl.
Kingofalldems
(38,514 posts)Loge23
(3,922 posts)What do you think Bannon meant by "war".
The scumball Bannon is a media troll - that's his whole schtick. Why are all these allegations coming out now, justifiable or otherwise?
I smell a rat.
DesertRat
(27,995 posts)pintobean
(18,101 posts)Trying to convince people that it is creates a more dangerous world for women.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Pepsidog
(6,254 posts)Texin
(2,600 posts)I don't like to ignore something that's such a serious problem that should be reportable, but the several incidents described appear in my opinion to be nothing but conflations. The Frisco woman's account is the one that most disturbing to me, as it has the whiff of nothing more than a couple of Trump supporters, the wife and husband, trying to get the 15-minutes of fame by taking a photo and trying to manufacture a butt grope out of something that can't be proven because the "offending" hand for the most part can't be seen on camera, and this being used to gin up a case of false equivalency to the offenses of their orange emperor and those of the pedophile judge in Alabama. And the thing that that's truly even more alarming to me is the fact that a whole lot of women could be taking truly innocent and inadvertent moments that both men and women have been in, in which there is an innocent brush of the hand or being pressed tightly into compact spaces on public transport, or in photo shots where it's awkward, and turning them all into something predatory and sinister. At this rate, everyone - male and female - are going to have to have transparent body pods that maintain a constant bubble around them while in public or at work. This is all getting too ridiculous - and I'm a woman who's dealt with workplace crap before. I remember a Christmas party (daytime) that actually involved females being coaxed to sit in their male counterparts laps, and it was all treated as totally acceptable (nothing untoward happened, but today it'd be front page news).
Beartracks
(12,839 posts)Office Christmas party... Male boss dresses up as Santa... Employees bring their kids to a big lunch... Kids get presents from Santa, sitting on his knee... A couple female employees jokingly sit on Santa's knee and ask for a raise, or new coworkers, or relocation to Hawaii...
Seen this scenario many times, and have never seen it be or become sexual in nature. Might've seen Santa get kissed on the cheek, however, unsolicited!
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rocktivity
(44,588 posts)why should anyone else?
rocktivity
MFM008
(19,837 posts)The Franken story front and center.
Others don't get to make allegations for you.
If there was a problem Arianna is more than capable
Of stating it.
She may have to yet tell Rupert to mind his own fucking business.
Beartracks
(12,839 posts)... what is "obvious" to Republicans is that they can exploit this photo to manipulate gullible supporters into becoming "outraged."
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Dem2
(8,168 posts)Denzil_DC
(7,290 posts)If it's all they've got, Franken's already dealt with the worst they'll sling.
Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)SunSeeker
(51,811 posts)onetexan
(13,081 posts)Tatiana
(14,167 posts)We have an obligation to push back strongly against this assault.
LiberalLovinLug
(14,180 posts)The silver lining would be that they probably have nothing else if this doesn't work.
Hang in there Al. Your worst enemy may be the chicken little establishment Democrat leaders that cower in fear at any perception that they are not PC enough. That they have to "prove" they are by demanding a resignation even while knowing its all bunk. And those they cater to, the small percentage of a humorless angry sect of liberals who do not believe that the term "extenuating circumstances" is even applicable when sexual innuendo is involved, and that refuse to separate (attempted) comedy in a public situation, from real life hidden sexual abuse.
DeminPennswoods
(15,299 posts)Franken, an avowed liberal, and Arianna, a conservative, being in bed together and discussing politics.
The irony is that this running gag and Arianna's friendship with Franken is what turned her away from her conservative Republican politics.