We are having a moment in this country and maybe even a reckoning. A reckoning about how men (mostly) treat women in a work environment.
There have been so many stories that are emerging, daily, sometimes several times a day it is hard to keep up. I’ve said before, the floodgates have opened and all manner of allegations have emerged and now the conversation is turning to the question of “What is the appropriate response to a particular action?”
This is where things have gotten difficult for some. The range of accusations being made extend from allegations of rape and assault (producer Harvey Weinstein and director James Toback), repeated inappropriate interactions with teenagers by Senate candidate Roy Moore, to unwanted groping and kissing in the case of Sen. Al Franken. And there is a lot in between.
In their airing of the celebration of the 2017 Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for David Letterman, awarded in October and airing tonight, WETA and PBS decided to cut out the portion of the event that included a tribute from Sen. Franken. And that has upset some PBS viewers, including the following:
Curtis Robert Purdy, Fairfax, VA:
Please, please, please reconsider your banning of Al Franken from David Letterman Honorarium. They are brothers and deserve to honor each other…
Doug Biebel, Big Sandy, MT
I am appalled that PBS is cutting Al Franken from the Letterman tribute program. Virtually no reporting has been done to investigate the veracity of the Leeann Tweeden charges against Franken…
Meena Pennington, Pasadena, CA
Your position vis-à-vis Al Franken is at the very lease disengenuos (sic) and hypocritical at worst. There’s a big difference between two consenting adults and a 14 year old girl as in the case of Roy Moore.
Sen. Al Franken, while pointing out that he does not remember the incident at a 2006 USO event the same way as Ms. Tweeden, has apologized and asked for an immediate Senate Ethics investigation. For her part, Ms. Tweeden accepts the apology and does not think he should lose his job. As of this writing, a second woman has come forward to say that Sen. Franken groped her while posing for a photo at the 2010 Minnesota State Fair.
In the case of Senate candidate Roy Moore, establishment Senate Republicans have backed away from Moore, suggesting that he drop out of the race in light of the allegations against him. Moore has vociferously denied the allegations and in his home state of Alabama, the local GOP is still supporting him.
It is in this political climate that WETA (the TV producers of the Mark Twain Prize event) and PBS decided to cut out the Al Franken portion in their televised program of that show taped last month at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
A spokesperson for PBS told me, “This was a decision made by PBS and WETA. The news about Sen. Franken was breaking on Thursday afternoon. As the coverage grew, we recognized that Sen. Franken’s inclusion in the broadcast could become a distraction from the purpose of the program, which is to celebrate American humor. “
I also asked about whether Sen. Franken and Mr. Letterman were informed of this decision. They were not, in keeping with PBS’s editorial guidelines that the final cut resides with the “producing station (WETA in this case) and PBS."
For the detractors of this decision, cutting Sen. Franken out of the show is akin to pronouncing him guilty without any investigation. I disagree since, in fact, the Senator has not denied her accusation and did apologize.
As to Sen. Franken’s inclusion in the taped special becoming a “distraction from the purpose of the program…American humor,” I’m not convinced. Is it the mere fact of the Senator’s presence or what he said? Up until this allegation was made public, he was included in the show, so I presume what he said on stage passed muster.
My understanding is that Sen. Franken’s tribute talked about the fact that not only is Mr. Letterman a funny man, but that he can use that humor for serious causes. The two collaborated on a series of videos about climate change, for which the Senator was thanking him.
But the allegations against Franken were enough to edit him out of the show. Of course, there is a complicating factor here in that Letterman himself admitted, back in 2009, to having relationships with members of his staff, including his personal assistant. He was the target of an extortion attempt to keep it quiet. In addition, one of the few female writers on the show accused him of creating an environment of “sexual favoritism.”
I asked whether any consideration had been given to this chapter in Mr. Letterman’s career, while deciding what to do about Sen. Franken’s inclusion and this was the PBS response: “As you know, the Kennedy Center selects each year’s winner and honored David Letterman based on the totality of his contribution to American humor.” I'm reading that as a no.
Mr. Letterman has benefited from the passage of time since his allegations were made public. Sen. Franken is in the white hot glare of new allegations and that might be what made the difference.
Without having seen Sen. Franken’s contribution, it’s hard to tell. I have a hunch that had the show aired as originally cut it would have passed without too much notice. By announcing the cut, WETA and PBS have invited more attention than they might have and thus made sure that we have all been duly distracted.
I have been grappling with the sheer volume of accusations that are now coming to light and what the best response is to each one. They all warrant opprobrium and there is a necessary catharsis in these incidents being made public. It is clear that improving the workplace for women is something that will require deep structural and cultural change. But it's also clear that we were unprepared for the torrent and range of accusations. Now we have to figure out how best to respond to this spectrum of behaviour in a way that is constructive and appropriate and making sure that women are not deterred from speaking out.
