Bill Maher Disputes NY Post Story Accusing Al Franken of Groping Arianna Huffington

[DonViejo]

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 Six’s Emily Smith has done with a couple of photos taken in 2000 to promote a segment called “Strange Bedfellows” from Bill Maher’s ABC show Politically Incorrect.

The New York Post “exclusive” features the headline, “Newly surfaced pics show Al Franken grabbing Arianna Huffington’s 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

What’s most remarkable about the Post’s 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 Maher’s 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]

1. Thank you Bill......

another comes to Al's defense.

[MelissaB]

2. K&R!

[LisaL]

3. Exactly. Looks like they are now digging up old photos of people posing for sketches and making

claims about those to bring Franken down.

[democratisphere]

4. Agreed. Comedy has now become sexual harrassment. BS!

Don't take the bait.

[LisaL]

5. What's next? Movies?

Actors doing the movie scenes are going to be accused of sexual harassment?

[Chipper Chat]

8. Dorothy and Hermit come to mind.

The 1971 movie "showing" an underage Gary grimes having sex with a woman in her 30s OMG Fox you need to probe this.

[defacto7]

31. Summer of '42

[Chipper Chat]

43. They re-released this on DVD a few years back.

I bought it but I noticed the actual brief scene showing them in bed and "doing it" had been deleted.

[defacto7]

44. You'd probably have to get a European version for

for anything that's not censored in one way or another. Welcome to the new usa.

[democratisphere]

9. True. The overbearing zealots are accusing and destroying men for no

legitimate reason. Franken, I believe, is completely innocent. Investigations will prove his innocence.

[defacto7]

32. What about Harold and Maud? OMG

[Lucinda]

6. knr

[mopinko]

7. boy, they are really diggin deep, aint they?

shows how little they can actually find about al.

[octoberlib]

10. The Post article was like something out of the Onion. It was ridiculous.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029869811

[oasis]

11. Huffington and Franken were pals and the skits were harmless fun.

That was always clear.

[NoMoreRepugs]

12. Senator Franken pummeling possum boy Sessions

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]

13. I remain unconvinced of the allegations against Franken

I have a very different feeling about them. Time will probably tell if that feeling is correct

[Loubee]

14. We need to keep an eye on Roger Stone

and other GOP dirty ops during this time when they would kill to have one less Dem senator.

[brush]

17. You're right. They just need to take down 1 Dem to throw off our reconciliation vote stalemate.

Please, please, please all Democratic senators, do not take any small plane flights.

[uponit7771]

20. +1

[GoCubsGo]

42. Yep, especially one who is smarter than the whole lot of them combined.

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]

15. K&R inb4 russian RWNJ trolls

[Fred Sanders]

16. Real news and journalism of Washington Post versus fake news and zero joirnalism. Only the

Deplorables prefer to be lied to so as to ignore the truth that hurts their little brainwashed minds.

[Honeycombe8]

18. Yep. Comedy routines are not part of a person's normal behavior & shouldn't be taken the same way.nt

[Denzil_DC]

19. I'm not going to post it, but they've even cooked up an "account"

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]

28. from his "old gamer business days" He has a LOT of experience "cooking up" fake accounts.

They earned millions from those olden day exploits and large corporations like sony, never could stop them.

[Denzil_DC]

29. Sorry, I meant "account" as in "description of what supposedly happened".

Completely fictional, and very convenient for those who want to believe it. They jumped the shark for most sane people.

[Sunlei]

37. you're right though, smear 'social media' businesses, create fake accounts & bots, lots of them.

[George II]

21. How about Clark Gable forcing Vivian Leigh to kiss him. Does she look like she wants to do it?

[tavernier]

22. No, ha ha!

But apparently the true reason being that he had terrible halitosis, as VL reported to many ppl.

[Kingofalldems]

23. Trump trolls foiled again.

[Loge23]

24. War is hell

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]

25. k&r and retweeted!

[pintobean]

26. Groping women isn't funny.

Trying to convince people that it is creates a more dangerous world for women.

[Sunlei]

27. This is what has to happen,they can't "defend" themselves against this. Supporters have to help.

[Pepsidog]

30. Republicans are groping for story to hurt Franken. Pathetic

[Texin]

33. Frankly (no pun intended), I'm thinking all of these so-called allegations are conflations.

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]

38. And nothing is expected or hoped to happen in such situations, either.

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!

==========

[rocktivity]

34. But if Arianna has YET to object,

why should anyone else?


rocktivity

[MFM008]

35. Desperately trying to keep

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]

36. It is pretty obvious, Arianna -- except to Republicans. Or else...

... what is "obvious" to Republicans is that they can exploit this photo to manipulate gullible supporters into becoming "outraged."

=============

[Dem2]

39. Seems they've unwittingly helped Franken's cause in a lame attempt at "pile on"

[Denzil_DC]

40. Yeah. This one jumped the shark big time.

If it's all they've got, Franken's already dealt with the worst they'll sling.

[Dawson Leery]

41. There is a concerted assault on Al Franken.

[SunSeeker]

45. Yep. nt

[onetexan]

47. Absolutely correct

[Tatiana]

50. They are clearly trying to take him out.

We have an obligation to push back strongly against this assault.

[LiberalLovinLug]

46. I just pray he gets through this.

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]

48. The joke was

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.

[dalton99a]

49. Kick