Conservative leadership candidate Kevin O’Leary says he doesn’t recall whether he asked for permission before touching a model’s buttocks during the taping of a Dragon’s Den episode that aired in October 2013.
During the episode, O’Leary and fellow “dragon” Bruce Croxon are seen touching the rear end of a model who was promoting women’s denim clothing line Monjeloco Jeans.
Quizzed about the incident Friday by a Huffington Post Canada reporter, O’Leary said he didn’t remember the incident.
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In fact, the Alberta-based entrepreneur behind Monjeloco Jeans, Nora Furber, told the St. Albert Gazette a few days after the show aired that the judges had indeed sought permission beforehand.
“On TV it looks as though the models are taken by surprise, but Furber said the judges had asked if it was OK,” the community newspaper reported.
One of the judges present at that Dragon’s Den taping, Arlene Dickinson, recently slammed O’Leary for making “misogynistic” comments about her. This came after O’Leary labelled Dickinson “emotional” in response to an article she wrote criticizing his candidacy for the Conservative Party leadership.
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While he didn’t recall the Dragon’s Den incident, O’Leary said Friday that it’s common for television programs to be edited to show “all kinds of incontextual moments.”
“In the end of the day that is television, it’s not policy. This is a different world we’re in here,” the businessman-turned-politician said.
“We’re talking about an economy that’s collapsing, no jobs for millennials, and you want to talk about reality TV?”
O’Leary has long said he’s aware people are scouring thousands of hours of footage from his time on reality television looking for clips that could be used against him.
— With a file from the Canadian Press