Al Franken did not cross the line with Arianna Huffington in a 2000 magazine shoot, Huffington told the New York Post after an anonymous source told the tabloid’s Page Six that the U.S. senator groped her.
On Monday, the Post quoted the source and ran with previously unpublished photos of the shoot, reportedly showing Franken grabbing Huffington’s breast and buttock.
"Franken was clowning around, but it really isn't funny," the source who attended the shoot told Page Six. "That's his tactic, pretend like it's all a big joke. Arianna was pushing his hands away. He was groping her. There was some fun attached to it, but she wasn't enjoying it. She definitely told him to stop and pushed him away."
Huffington, though, pushed back on the source’s characterization of the photo shoot, telling the Post that she found nothing amiss during the session, claiming that it was a nod to a television sketch the two did together in 1996.
"The notion that there was anything inappropriate in this photo shoot is truly absurd," Huffington told the Post 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. I've been great friends with Al and his wife Franni for over 20 years and there has never been anything remotely inappropriate in our interactions," Huffington continued.
The former "Saturday Night Live" comedian turned Democratic senator has been under fire after two women accused him of inappropriate touching.
CNN reported on Monday that Lindsay Menz accused Franken of making her feel "uncomfortable" and "gross" after inappropriately grabbing her during a photo opportunity at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010.
"(Franken) pulled me in really close, like awkward close, and as my husband took the picture, he put his hand full-fledged on my rear," Lenz told CNN. "It was wrapped tightly around my butt cheek. It wasn't around my waist. It wasn't around my hip or side. It was definitely on my butt.
I was like, oh my God, what's happening."
Franken told CNN that he did not recall the photo.
"I take thousands of photos at the state fair surrounded by hundreds of people, and I certainly don't remember taking this picture," Franken told CNN. "I feel badly that Ms. Menz came away from our interaction feeling disrespected."
Last week, Leeann Tweeden charged that Franken kissed and groping her without her consent in 2006 while the two were performing at a USO event, CNN noted. Franken apologized for the incident after Tweeden came forward joined other lawmakers in their calls for an ethics investigation into his behavior, the broadcaster stated.
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