Culture

Another Woman Has Accused George H.W. Bush of Sexual Harassment

He told the same dirty joke to multiple women.

Another Woman Has Accused George H.W. Bush of Sexual Harassment

Another Woman Has Accused George H.W. Bush of Sexual Harassment

By Rebecca Gibian

On Tuesday, actress Heather Lind accused former president George H.W. Bush of sexually harassing her during a photo op four years ago through a now-deleted Instagram post. Now, another woman is coming forward with a very similar story, according to Vanity Fair. Jordanna Grolnick, a New York actress, told Deadspin about a more recent alleged incident involving the former president.

Grolnick says that she was working on a production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame in August 2016. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush came to meet the staff backstage.

“We all circled around him and Barbara for a photo, and I was right next to him,” she said, according to Vanity Fair. “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 told Deadspin that she had heard that Bush had a reputation for touching women inappropriately. However, because Bush has vascular parkinsonism and was confined to a wheelchair, Grolnick figured he wouldn’t do anything, according to Vanity Fair. 

According to Deadspin and reported by Vanity Fair, at least two Twitter users had posted about the former president using the “David Cop-a-Feel” joke at a “ladies lunch” even in April 2014.

Jim McGrath, Bush’s representative, issued an apology to Lind on behalf of the former president, as well as a broader apology to Deadspin on the matter. He said that the joke was intended in “a good-natured manner.”

“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 said, according to Vanity Fair. 

Grolnick had shaken it off until the #MeToo movement started and she decided to speak up.

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