Israeli newspaper refers to Sen. Al Franken as 'gay'

[TexasTowelie]

Israeli newspaper Haaretz turned many heads on Thursday afternoon when it referred to Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) as “gay” on Twitter.

“Gay Jewish U.S. Senator Al Franken endorses #IranDeal,” the paper tweeted to its thousands of readers in reference to the Minnesota Dem’s just-announced decision to back the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran.

The tweet was deleted minutes later, but not before it raised several eyebrows for its mischaracterization of Franken’s sexuality.

Franken, a former "Saturday Night Live" player, married his college sweetheart, Franni Bryson, in 1975. They have two children together.

“Does his wife know?” inquired one follower.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/251090-israeli-newspaper-calls-sen-al-franken-gay

[JI7]

1. they were probably thinking of some character he played

[pnwmom]

2. I think they just mixed him up with Barney Franks. n/t

[LuvNewcastle]

3. I'm pretty sure Stuart Smalley was gay.

Stuart probably had no idea that he was gay, though.

[Shrike47]

4. They wanted to insult him so they threw some muck. Pretty stupid, in his case.

Look at the idiots who claim Obama is gay. Some people just want to denigrate and say anything to offend, no matter how stupid and baseless. Their audience just eats it up. It's bizarre but apparently human.

[6chars]

6. have you read the right wing rag haaretz this appears in?

[JI7]

8. nope. this was an innocent mistake

[Comrade Grumpy]

11. You are kidding, right?

[6chars]

12. why do you think it was not innocent?

[smirkymonkey]

5. Al is one of my favorite Senators.

They were probably thinking of his Stuart Smalley character on SNL. Which was hysterical btw. I love him. Great comedian and good man.

[yellowcanine]

7. Sounds as if they just wanted to insult him and it backfired.

Not gay and not an insult if he were. A twofer. Well done Haaretz! Congrats, or something.

[LeftishBrit]

9. I would guess they were mixing him up with Barney Frank.

[Tanuki]

10. Even if that were the case, what possible relevance would it have to the topic

of the Iran nuclear agreement? It sounds as if they thought they could tap into personal prejudice against gays by mentioning it.

[U4ikLefty]

13. Don't know about that but he's good enough, he' smart enough and

dog gone it...people like him.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Stuart Smedley, a character he played for years on SNL, was gay

I am not too shocked they got confused, but sloppy...