Al Franken was part of a tribute to David Letterman set to air tomorrow night, but after the allegations from Leeann Tweeden, PBS has cut Franken out of the tribute:
TVLINE – Minnesota Sen. Al Franken has been edited out of PBS’ David Letterman: The Mark Twain Prize special (airing Monday, 8/7c), TVLine has confirmed. The decision to cut him from the broadcast comes just days after the Saturday Night Live alum became the latest politician to be accused of sexual harassment. The network on Sunday released the following statement to TVLine:
PBS will air David Letterman: The Mark Twain Prize on Monday evening. Senator Al Franken participated in the event, but will not appear substantially in the PBS program… PBS and WETA, the producing station, felt that the inclusion of Senator Franken in the broadcast at this time would distract from the show’s purpose as a celebration of American humor.
A PBS rep tells TVLine that Franken will still be briefly visible “in the finale shot when all the cast” join Letterman on stage.
Meanwhile CBS News and other media are running this story about Franken:
Female former staffers of Sen. Al Franken come to his defense https://t.co/OVVVuVuj27 pic.twitter.com/RJYH6sCzqv
— CBS News (@CBSNews) November 19, 2017
As Shapiro points out, this is so lame:
Literally the exact same defense Moore's lawyer used -- a bunch of other women say he was great https://t.co/8JsigJ2yuI
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) November 17, 2017
Just because he hasn’t sexually harassed every woman he knows doesn’t mean much, if anything.
And lastly, Franken won’t retire:
Democratic Sen. Al Franken reportedly won’t resign amid a sexual misconduct scandal, but his future in Congress remains unsettled amid more calls Sunday for congressional investigations into his and potential Senator Roy Moore’s conduct with women.
A spokesman for Franken, who represents Minnesota, told his hometown paper The Star Tribune on Saturday that the senator would not resign.
“No,” the spokesman said. “He is spending time with his family in Washington, D.C., and will be through the Thanksgiving holiday. And he’s doing a lot of reflecting.”
Of course.