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Updated Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017, 1:36 a.m. EDT: A second woman has come forward and accused former President George H.W. Bush of groping her.


Deadspin reports that New York actress Jordana Grolnick said Wednesday, “I got sent the Heather Lind story by many people this morning, and I’m afraid that mine is entirely similar.”

From Deadspin:

Rumors about Bush groping actresses in this manner have been circulating for a while. More than a year ago, a tipster passed word about the Heather Lind incident to Deadspin. We were told that Bush had, during a photo op, groped her and told her that his favorite magician was “David Cop-a-Feel” while fondling her.


Grolnick said that her encounter with Bush happened in 2016 while she was performing in a production of Hunchback of Notre Dame in Maine. Bush 41 spends his summers in Kennebunkport, Maine, and caught a performance. After the show, he came backstage to get a photo with Grolnick and the rest of the cast.

Grolnick said she was told by other actors that the former president had a reputation for being a groper, but she didn’t take it seriously.

“I guess I was thinking,” she said, “‘He’s in a wheelchair; what harm could he do?’”

During the photo op, she says, she found out.

“We all circled around him and Barbara for a photo, and I was right next to him,” Grolnick said. “He reached his right hand around to my behind, and as we smiled for the photo, he asked the group, ‘Do you want to know who my favorite magician is?’ As I felt his hand dig into my flesh, he said, ‘David Cop-a-Feel!’”


Grolnick said that others in the room “laughed politely and out of discomfort,” including former first lady Barbara Bush (complicit) who was nearby.

“[She] said something along the lines of, ‘He’s going to get himself put into jail!’ to which we laughed harder,” Grolnick said.


Say, are the people in the comments—including the grays—still defending Bush 41?

Just checking.

Updated Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017, 9:26 p.m. EDT: On Wednesday evening, the office of former President George H.W. Bush issued a statement addressing the allegations made by actress Heather Lind (and, based on the wording, possibly fending off any #MeToo statements about him that could be impending).


“At age 93, President Bush has been confined to a wheelchair for roughly five years, so his arm falls on the lower waist of people with whom he takes pictures. To try to put people at ease, the president routinely tells the same joke—and on occasion, he has patted women’s rears in what he intended to be a good-natured manner. Some have seen it as innocent; others clearly view it as inappropriate. To anyone he has offended, President Bush apologizes most sincerely,” the statement read.


Oh, well, if you meant it in a good-natured manner, never mind, then.

Wait, I have a question. If you meant it in a good-natured manner, why did you only do it to women? I’m going to assume that’s the case, that you only did it to women, because the statement only mentions women. It doesn’t say that you did it to everyone.


Someone in the comments earlier was like, he “[a]cknowledged and apologized. Didn’t lie and insult the victim to cover his ass. Not excusing him, but ... ” and I’m like, that is excusing it, my G.

My mother used to say this thing to me when I was younger: “Saying sorry is easier than asking for permission.”


The apology means shit. He didn’t have consent. Apologizing after the fact doesn’t minimize harm, no matter how you try to decorate that shit.

Do better.

Earlier:

Because even presidents whose last names are not Clinton are capable of being disgusting pigs who sexually harass women, here’s a gross little story for you. An actress has accused George H.W. Bush of touching her inappropriately during a photo op in 2014, and in response, Bush 41 apologized for a failed “attempt at humor.”


In an Instagram post Tuesday, actress Heather Lind said that Bush touched her inappropriately from behind as he sat in his wheelchair while they took pictures for the Revolutionary War drama Turn: Washington’s Spies, according to Newsweek.

In the now deleted post, Lind said that she became disturbed after seeing Bush 41 appear onstage with the four other living ex-presidents during a benefit Saturday for hurricane victims. Lind wrote:

I was disturbed today by a photo I saw of President Barack Obama shaking hands with George H. W. Bush in a gathering of ex-presidents organising aid to states and territories damaged by recent hurricanes. I found it disturbing because I recognize the respect ex-presidents are given for having served. And I feel pride and reverence toward many of the men in the photo. But when I got the chance to meet George H. W. Bush four years ago to promote a historical television show I was working on, he sexually assaulted me while I was posing for a similar photo. He didn’t shake my hand. He touched me from behind from his wheelchair with his wife Barbara Bush by his side. He told me a dirty joke. And then, all the while being photographed, touched me again. Barbara rolled her eyes as if to say “not again”.


Actress Heather Lind (Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images)

So Bush 41 is gross and his wife is complicit; is that what you’re telling us?

Lind went on to say that after the event was over, security staff working for the former president told her that she should not have stood next to him.


A dirty old man touched her inappropriately and it’s her fault for standing next to him?

For his part, Bush 41 has not denied that the inappropriate touch happened.

In a statement, his spokesman, Jim McGrath, said, “President Bush would never—under any circumstance—intentionally cause anyone distress, and he most sincerely apologizes if his attempt at humor offended Ms. Lind.”


So he doesn’t deny doing it, but he tries to minimize the harm by saying he was just trying to be funny.

With all due respect, fuck you, sir.

Make a joke by actually being funny. There is nothing funny about disrespecting a woman by invading her personal space and boundaries and grabbing her ass. Nothing funny at all.


Of course, this is that white male privilege showing once again.

Bush 41 is now added to the list of men in Hollywood and beyond who are just fucking trash, plain and simple.