LOS ANGELES, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Senator Al Franken released an apology Thursday after being accused by a Los Angeles radio anchor of kissing and groping her forcibly during a 2006 tour in the Middle East before he took public office.
Leeann Tweeden, a radio anchor at Los Angeles station KABC, wrote in a post on the station's website that Franken forcibly kissed her while they rehearsed a skit during a tour to entertain U.S. troops in Afghanistan.Additionally, a photographer took a photo of Franken grabbing Tweeden's chest while she slept.
"I've decided it's time to tell my story," wrote Tweeden on her personal Twitter page.
"Senator Al Franken kissed and groped me without my consent, and there's nothing funny about it," she added.
"I wanted to shout my story to the world with a megaphone to anyone who would listen, but even as angry as I was, I was worried about the potential backlash and damage going public might have on my career as a broadcaster. But that was then, this is now. I'm no longer afraid," wrote the radio anchor.
Tweeden said that she is telling her story because there may be others and she want "the days of silence to be over forever." She called upon all the other victims of sexual assault to be able to speak out immediately.
Franken, a Democrat from U.S. state of Minnesota, apologized to Tweeden immediately amid a growing outcry over sexual harassment in the nation.
"The first thing I want to do is apologize: to Leeann, to everyone else who was part of that tour, to everyone who has worked for me, to everyone I represent, and to everyone who counts on me to be an ally and supporter and champion of women," wrote Franken in a statement.
"I respect women. I don't respect men who don't. And the fact that my own actions have given people a good reason to doubt that makes me feel ashamed," he continued.
"For instance, that picture. I don't know what was in my head when I took that picture, and it doesn't matter. There's no excuse. I look at it now and I feel disgusted with myself. It isn't funny. It's completely inappropriate. It's obvious how Leeann would feel violated by that picture," he wrote.
"And, what's more, I can see how millions of other women would feel violated by it -- women who have had similar experiences in their own lives, women who fear having those experiences, women who look up to me, women who have counted on me," wrote the senator.
Franken said he is asking that an ethics investigation be undertaken and he will gladly cooperate.
Franken became well known in the 1970s and 1980s as a writer and performer on the television comedy show Saturday Night Live. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2008 and re-elected in 2014.
