What the website LARadio.com published yesterday, 11/17 re: Franken's KABC-AM accuser. And photo.
KABC Morning co-Host Says Al Franken Groped Her
(November 17, 2017) Leeann Tweeden, KABC morning co-anchor with Doug McIntyre, posted on the KABC website that Senator and former KTLK (1150AM) Talk show host Al Franken kissed and groped her without her consent.
"Franken had written some skits for the show and brought props and costumes to go along with them,” Leeann wrote. “Like many USO shows before and since, the skits were full of sexual innuendo geared toward a young, male audience. As a tv host and sports broadcaster, as well as a model familiar to the audience from the covers of FHM, Maxim and Playboy, I was only expecting to emcee and introduce the acts, but Franken said he had written a part for me that he thought would be funny, and I agreed to play along.
"When I saw the script, Franken had written a moment when his character comes at me for a ‘kiss’. I suspected what he was after, but I figured I could turn my head at the last minute, or put my hand over his mouth, to get more laughs from the crowd. 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. He repeated that actors really need to rehearse everything and that we must practice the kiss. I said ‘OK’ so he would stop badgering me. 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 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. I walked away.
- snip -
Franken, who has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate, almost immediately released an apology to the Tweeden. After initially apologizing without fully acknowledging all of her accusations, he then released another lengthier, more contrite statement that contested nothing.
http://www.laradio.com
And here's the photo that the website owner put with this:
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I'm guessing this must be a press photo of hers. I don't know anybody at KABC-AM anymore. It's literally been decades (late '70s, so that means FOUR decades) since I worked across the hall at the FM sister station, KLOS. She's one of many who spent some of her early career as a Playboy bunny, and doesn't seem to mind exploiting her former persona if it serves some purpose. Gloria Steinem did some time in that capacity when she was younger, too.
The owner and manager of LARadio.com is a local broadcast veteran who's now retired. He's white, and in his 70s, and he remains very wired in. He's been chronicling the L.A./SoCal radio scene for YEARS, the ups 'n' downs, hirings and firings, ratings, mergers, gossip, scandals, weddings/births/award banquets/passings, and "where are they now" stuff. Everybody I know in L.A. radio subscribes, even slews of retirees like me who check in with this column every morning to stay connected. It's widely considered must-read stuff.
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