Bill Maher is being raked over the social-media coals for a photo he posted to his Twitter account on Thursday.
The photo shows Maher jokingly “groping” comedian Bob Saget while he sleeps (or pretends to sleep) on a plane.
The photo is clearly mocking the now-famous 2006 Al Franken photo, which showed the former Democratic U.S. senator reaching out to grab the breasts of radio host and ex-model Leeann Tweeden while she slept on a military plane. Franken claimed that at the time it was just a joke.
Tweeden also said that Franken, 66, forcibly kissed her before he became a politician. He personally apologized to her and resigned from his position after the sexual harassment allegations started piling up. (At least three other women alleged Franken grabbed their buttocks while posing with them for photos during separate campaign events in 2007, 2008 and 2010.)
While Maher was definitely amused by his photo-op joke, many others were not, saying that Maher was mocking the #MeToo movement.
Others found the photo to be all in good fun.
Maher has been in hot water before; most recently, the Real Time host was facing calls for his firing after using the N-word more than once on his show. As of this writing, neither he nor Saget have publicly commented on the photo backlash.
Maher, Saget and Reggie Brown are currently on a small U.S. tour. Their next stop is on Jan. 20 in San Antonio, Texas. There are no Canadian tour dates.