Franken apology

[Betsy]

In reaction to the many emails they received, Al Franken will be apologizing on the air at 130pm today---Friday June4. They are sending me a copy of it and I will post it once it comes in.



Betsy

Read the offending commentary (http://www.bodieslikeours.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=821&perpage=9&pagenumber=1)

[Betsy]

.Al Franken airs apology for insensitive intersex remarks on June 2

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Contact:
Betsy Driver
Bodies Like Ours Executive Director
mailto:betsydriver@bodieslikeours.org
www.bodieslikeours.org
610-258-7466 phone
610-258-6631 fax

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Al Franken airs apology for insensitive intersex remarks on June 2.

Yesterday Bodies Like Ours sent an action alert containing a transcript excerpt from comedian and radio talk show host Al Franken containing an insensitive joke about intersex people and conjoined twins he made on his Air America show June 2, 2004. Many people reacted immediately by sending emails to the show expressing their dismay.

In a great example of how collective action can succeed, Al Franken will be issuing an apology for the remarks today on his show. Bodies Like Ours appreciates the quick response from Mr. Franken and his producer Ben Wikler in airing an apology. A copy of the apology is below.

A very BIG thank you to members of our community and allies for reacting so swiftly letting Mr. Franken know of their dismay.

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Betsy,

Please pass this along to your list, from Al Franken. He’ll read this apology on-air at about 1:30 pm EST, during the “boring corrections” segment.

As several members of the intersexed community said in their emails, we’re all on the same side. The last thing the O’Franken Factor wants to do is further destructive stigmas or alienate intersexed or conjoined people; I hope that this will help repair the rift that opened after the original joke.

Thanks for your quick responsiveness to our show,

Ben Wikler

Producer

The O’Franken Factor

______



On Wednesday’s “Fighting Hannity’s Lies with Lies About Hannity” segment, I falsely claimed that Sean Hannity was born a hermaphroditic conjoined twin, and that the doctor who delivered him and his twin reacted in horror at their birth. I would like to apologize to members of the intersexed and conjoined-twin communities for furthering the unjustified stigma attached to these conditions. An estimated one in 2000 people are born with atypical genitalia, which, like conjoinment, is a naturally-occurring bodily variation. I am sorry for the ill-considered joke.



Al Franken



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[Meresa]

Originally posted by Betsy
In reaction to the many emails they received, Al Franken will be apologizing on the air at 130pm today---Friday June4. They are sending me a copy of it and I will post it once it comes in.

Betsy

Just goes to show:

We're good enough; We're smart enough; and doggone-it, people like us!!!

Thanks Betsy (and you too Al)!

[Emi]

it was more like 1:50pm, but i heard it on air. it was great. i particularly like it that he's apologizing for giving us bad publicity by associating us with hideously freakish creatures like sean hannity. haha.

and i love the stuart smalley reference--can i steal it on our website ( www.intersexinitiative.org )?

[Betsy]

So, foxnews.com picked up on this item (better late than never) and ironically with it came the first ever threatening (or even crank) call in the lifetime of 2+ years of this website and organization. Silly fool forgot about caller ID and he even left the message on our voice mail. The police were laughing about it going into the stupid criminal file.

Jose Tremols, you do a sucky job at heavy breathing (along with the rest of your juvenile message) I have no doubt the state police will be calling on you soon.

Jose, this one's for you.

Betsy