36 women who worked at SNL unite to publicly defend Al Franken

Thirty-six women staffers of NBC's Saturday Night Live who worked with Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) on the show published a letter Tuesday to "offer solidarity in support" of the alum, who is accused of kissing one woman without her consent and taking a picture groping her while she slept, and by another woman of groping her while posing for a photo at a fair.

The "SNL women," including original cast members Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman, said that "what Al did was stupid and foolish" but that "in our experience, we know Al as a devoted and dedicated family man, a wonderful comedic performer, and an honorable public servant."

The letter was not received well by some. Elle's culture editor Estelle Tang tweeted: "Congrats on this harmful, distracting, useless statement, @NBCSNL. It's LITERALLY 'family men,' 'comedians,' & 'honorable public servants' being revealed as harassers. Progressive men can mistreat women too, and it's dangerous to imply otherwise."

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SNL actually addressed the Franken scandal over the weekend. "I know this photo looks bad, but remember: It also is bad," said Colin Jost in a Weekend Update segment on the subject. "And, sure, this was taken before he ran for public office, but it was also taken after he was a sophomore in high school. It's pretty hard to be like, 'Oh, come on. He didn't know any better. He was only 55.'"

Read the full SNL statement below. Jeva Lange