So, there’s a rumor flying around that 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) once forced a staffer to shave her legs . . .

For women voters this might be as bad as Dukakis in a tank: Klobuchar forces staff to shave her legs (according to rumor) https://t.co/naKVtBGzNZ — Kyle Smith (@rkylesmith) February 13, 2019

. . . a rumor that actually made it onto one of the episodes of HBO’s “Veep”:

Executive Producer David Mandel later admitted in an interview with Slate that Klobuchar was indeed the basis for the bit:

In an interview, Mandel told me the gag was based on something the writers had heard about Klobuchar. (Disclosure: My brother has worked on the show for the past two seasons.) “It is a well-known rumor that we were told a million times by millions of people,” Mandel said of the leg-shaving story. When asked for comment, a representative for Klobuchar said the rumor was completely false and added, “This is ridiculous.”

And they wanted to actually have a staffer shave Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ legs in the show, but they didn’t do it because it seemed “so absurd”:

We tried to make it a scene and it was impossible. #veep @veephbo "The Veep team had a hard time working it into the script because it seemed so absurd." https://t.co/SGLUE1ft28 via @slate — David Mandel (@DavidHMandel) February 12, 2019

Exit question: How many other of the fictional president’s gaffes are inspired by Sen. Klobuchar? A lot of the reporting on Klobuchar, in retrospect, does sound like it happened to Gary on the show:

This is literally 90% of the punchlines in Veep that involve Gary. I'm wondering if a former Klobuchar staffer worked on the show. — Art Vandelay (@artvandal_17) February 9, 2019

For example:

“Only speak when spoken to at events,” a Klobuchar campaign memo read. https://t.co/wzruz27uEQ pic.twitter.com/KRd5oHXd5O — Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) February 8, 2019

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Related:

Sen. Amy Klobuchar's first stop on her 2020 tour is a DIRECT SHOT at 2016 loser Hillary Clinton https://t.co/XVoh4c0iRl — Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) February 11, 2019

No pouncing needed: Amy Klobuchar announces for 2020 after report of demeaning emails, throwing binder at staff https://t.co/6Mo3z8gKjX — Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) February 10, 2019