Leeann Tweeden nicknamed Al Franken “Fish Lips” after he forcibly mashed his “wet and slimy” smackers on her face, then stuck his tongue down her throat during a 2006 USO tour, she revealed Thursday.
The former Playboy Playmate-turned-radio host recalled the gross details while recounting Franken’s alleged assault in a press conference, after first making the accusations earlier in the day.
“It happened so fast. He mashed his lips against my face and stuck his tongue in my mouth so fast. All I can remember is that his lips were really wet and slimy and in my mind I called him Fish Lips the rest of the trip. That’s what it reminded me of,” she said.
“He stuck his tongue down my mouth and I remember I pushed him off with my hands and I remember I almost punched him — because every time I see him now, my hands clinch into fists — and I said, ‘If you ever do that to me again, I won’t be so nice about it the second time.’ I walked out away from him and I wanted to find a bathroom and rinse my mouth out. I was disgusted.”
Tweeden said she tried to avoid Franken for the rest of the tour, making sure they were never alone again, but that he continued to make “snide comments” when they were seated next to each other during autograph sessions — including drawing devil horns on her head shots.
“These are the things I’m dealing with … two weeks of this is what I’m getting at,” Tweeden said.
But she thought she’d successfully avoided any more run-ins with the comic until she got home and looked at a CD of behind-the-scenes photos — which included one of Franken groping her while she was asleep on the flight home.
“I opened it up probably the next day and there was a photo of Al doing this on my breasts on the camera smirking and smiling like ‘Look at me.’ I took that as ‘I got the last laugh.’ He knew I wouldn’t see it until I got home and I was away from everybody else,” she recalled.
Franken has said he doesn’t remember the kiss — which occurred when they were “rehearsing” a scene for a skit on the tour — but apologized for it and the photo.
Tweeden said she accepts his apology, but noted that it took him 11 years.
“He knew exactly what he did to me then and that that picture was out there,” she said. “The apology? Sure I accept it. People make mistakes and he knew he made a mistake.”