The 15 years Sen. Al Franken spent as an “Saturday Night Live” writer and performer didn’t protect him from criticism during Saturday’s edition of “Weekend Update.”
“SNL” was criticized for saying nothing about Harvey Weinstein the weekend after the sexual misconduct accusations accusations against him became public. But “Weekend Update” co-anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che started Saturday’s segment with several minutes on the accusations by KABC radio anchor Leeann Tweeden that Franken sexually harassed and groped her during a 2006 USO tour.
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After noting the infamous photo in which Franken appears to be groping Tweeden’s breasts while she sleeps, Jost said, “now, I know this photo looks bad, but remember — it also is bad.”
In a possible nod to Harvey Weinstein’s widely mocked statement that he “came of age in the 60s and 70s,” Jost added, “Sure, this was taken before Franken ran for public office, but it was also taken after he was a sophomore in high school. It’s pretty hard to be like oh, come on, he didn’t know anything — he was only 55.”
Che then noted Tweeden’s accusation that Franken forced her to kiss him while they were rehearsing a comedy sketch.
“Come on, man, didn’t the troops in Afghanistan have it hard enough without having to sit through sketch comedy?” he said. “I mean people can barely even stay up to watch sketches after ‘Weekend Update.’”