On Thursday, a female news radio anchor claimed that Democratic Senator and former Saturday Night Live team member Al Franken groped and “forcibly kissed” her in 2006. Upon hearing this claim, dozens of women who have worked on SNL have signed a statement showing their support for Al Franken.
Leeann Tweeden, the female news radio anchor, writes that Franken forcibly kissed her while they were rehearsing for a skit on a USO tour: “Franken had written a moment when his character comes at me for a ‘kiss’…On the day of the show Franken and I were alone backstage going over our lines one last time. He said to me, ‘We need to rehearse the kiss.’…He continued to insist, and I was beginning to get uncomfortable…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…I felt disgusted and violated.”
She also states that after the tour, she was given a CD of photos that she was given by the photographer, and found a photograph where she was asleep and Franken’s hands were on her breasts: “I couldn’t believe it. He groped me, without my consent, while I was asleep. I felt violated all over again. Embarrassed. Belittled. Humiliated.”
JUST IN: Women staff of “Saturday Night Live” sign letter in support of Sen. Al Franken pic.twitter.com/osN6IwMgvB
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 21, 2017
This photo in and of itself isn’t necessarily problematic. As Ana Marie Cox notes in Esquire, “He doesn’t even appear to be touching her. Were we to know nothing else about that trip, if that photo simply remained on the camera roll, if she had never seen it, one could argue that it was almost entirely harmless—a childish prank.” In another instance, when Franken took a similar photo with Arianna Huffington of Huffington Post, there really was nothing wrong with it. As Huffington told the New York Post, she found it it was “truly absurd” for the photos to be construed as sexual misconduct. It was a joke between friends.
However, there is a major difference between the photos with Arianna Huffington and the photo with Leeann Tweeden. In Huffington’s case, it’s consensual. They planned it together and they both found it to be funny. In Tweeden’s case, she had been “avoiding him as much as possible and making sure I was never alone with him again for the rest of the tour.” And, notably, the photos with Tweeden occurred when she was asleep.
We live in a culture where men feel as though they if they receive consent from one person, they can take that consent and apply it to any situation at any time. It’s the reason we’ve had to shift away from “no means no” and start saying “yes means yes”. And it’s the root of much of the sexual assault problem we’re facing: Many sexual assault cases occur not out of malicious intent, but because men believe they have some inherent power over women that implies consent. It’s the textbook definition of internalized misogyny. As Cox states, “Embedded in that photo is the same message that the election of Donald Trump sent millions of women: When you’re a star, they let you do it.
The statement signed Tuesday reads: “What Al did was stupid and foolish, and we think it was appropriate for him to apologize to Ms Tweeden, and to the public…In our experience, we know Al as a devoted and dedicated family man, a wonderful comedic performer, and an honorable public servant.” It concludes by sending “support and gratitude to Al and his family this Thanksgiving and holiday season.”
It is signed by thirty-six women who have worked on SNL, including original cast members Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman, and former show producer Marci Klein. According to The Hollywood Reporter, SNL was not involved with or aware of the statement.
@snl women thanking Al Franken for not hurting them specifically is a great example of internalized misogyny & selective feminism. This fucked up enabling is women feeling like they need to protect men at the cost of his victims. He’s a grown man – let him & other men defend him.
— Material Archive (@MaterialArchive) November 22, 2017
This statement gives way to an important and complicated conversation about whether it is ever appropriate to publicly support a person accused of sexual misconduct. It is not difficult to believe the women of SNL. There is almost no question that they are honest in stating that “not one of us ever experienced any inappropriate behavior.” However, this does not erase the fact that Leeann Tweeden, the woman who accused Franken of groping and forcibly kissing her, says that she felt, “Violated…Embarrassed. Belittled. Humiliated.”
Standing up for a person accused of sexual misconduct is dangerous water to tread, especially in a culture where we are increasingly learning that men can get away with harassing women…like, all the time. It’s great that Franken is typically a good guy, but if you believe that changes anything about the allegations against him, you’re missing the point. The problem in our culture isn’t that men aren’t typically nice and funny. The problem is that we have so internalized misogyny and objectification of women that even the nice, funny guys partake in sexual misconduct.