Al Franken Running Out of Liberal Celebrity Friends to Appear With

Al Franken Running Out of Liberal Celebrity Friends to Appear With

Al Franken has been forced to cancel appearances with two of his liberal friends in entertainment in just the last two weeks. Franken was scheduled to make an appearance with liberal comedian Kathy Griffin in July but cancelled when Griffin imploded over the highly publicized photo of her holding President Trump’s severed head.

Now he’s backing out of an appearance on Bill Maher’s HBO program.

Todd Van Luling reports at the Huffington Post:

Senator Al Franken Cancels Bill Maher Appearance Amid Controversy

A spokesperson for Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) confirmed to HuffPost that the senator is canceling his appearance on the upcoming episode of “Real Time” in the wake of host Bill Maher’s use of a racial slur on-air.

“Senator Franken believes that what Bill Maher said was inappropriate and offensive, which is why he made the decision not to appear on the next episode of ‘Real Time,’” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “He was glad to see Bill, who the Senator considers to be a good friend, apologize and express sincere regret for his comment.”

Last Friday, Maher joked that he was a “house n****r” while in conversation with Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), who invited Maher to “work in the fields” of his represented state. Maher later called his use of the term “offensive.”

The backlash was strong enough for Maher to apologize ― something he’s known for rarely doing ― and for HBO to confirm that the network currently has no plans to fire him.

Here’s a short video report from Wochit News:

Franken is making the rounds because he’s promoting a new book. Like his progressive colleague Elizabeth Warren, he insists he’s not planning to run for president in 2020 but there are plenty of folks who want him to do it.

Take a look at this column at CNN by Julian Zelizer:

Al Franken for president?

Sen. Al Franken insists he is not going to run for president in 2020, but he might want to reconsider. Democrats are already starting to consider who their next crop of candidates might be following the devastating results in November. There is buzz that former Vice President Joe Biden, who just formed a PAC to assist Democrats, is considering whether to run.

Franken, the former “Saturday Night Live” comedian and best-selling author, is no political joke. He comes to the table with substantial political experience, certainly compared to President Donald Trump. When reporter Bill Scher floated Franken in Politico as a possibility to be Hillary Clinton’s vice presidential running mate, many readers were intrigued by the idea but they wondered — could a former comedian and Deadhead who partook in the 1970s “Saturday Night Live” party scene really be viable as a national candidate?

Ed Morrissey of Hot Air recently offered a spot on analysis of why Franken is unlikely to run:

More seriously, Franken won’t expand the map for Democrats even if he did make it to the nomination. His appeal is strictly in the same urban cores and college campuses where Hillary Clinton dominated, but Franken won’t play well anywhere else.

Frankly, the same could be said about Warren.

Featured image via YouTube.

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