Author and radio host Garrison Keillor on Tuesday dismissed a picture of Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., groping a female radio host by saying it was a pretend grope that was done "in a spirit of low comedy."

In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Keillor said the picture was taken in 2006 during a USO tour that he did "from deep in his heart, out of patriotism."

He then dismissed the picture of Franken groping a fellow performer, Leeann Tweeden, as a harmless gag.

"On the flight home, in a spirit of low comedy, Al ogled Miss Tweeden and pretended to grab her and a picture was taken," he wrote.

He also dismissed Tweeden's accusation in part because it happened 11 years ago.

"Eleven years later, a talk show host in LA, she goes public, and there is talk of resignation," he wrote. "This is pure absurdity, and the atrocity it leads to is a code of public deadliness. No kidding."

Keillor's argument was couched in an op-ed titled, "Al Franken should resign? That's absurd," which seemed to argue that accusations against Franken should be seen in the context of other flawed politicians.

"Remove the slaveholder Washington from our maps, replacing him with Wampanoag, and replace Jefferson, who slept with Sally Hemings — consensual? I doubt it — with Powhatan, and what about the FDR Drive in New York, named for a man who was unfaithful to his wife?" Keillor wrote. "Let's call it RFD and let it go at that."