Alyssa Milano Defends Joe Biden Touching, Smelling Women: He Just Has 'Cultural Differences'

Actress and #MeToo activist Alyssa Milano took to MSNBC airwaves Monday to defend former vice president and declared Democrat presidential contender Joe Biden over claims of sexual misconduct. Rationalizing Biden's bizarre behavior — which includes stroking children's faces and shoulders and sniffing the hair of women — Milano explained that Biden simply has “cultural differences.”

The actress told MSNBC anchors that she spoke privately to Mr. Biden about his suspect behavior with women and noted that she was impressed by the Democrat. Biden told her privately what she wishes "more men in positions of power would say out loud."

"He said to me, ‘I'm willing to learn, I'm willing to listen. I didn’t realize that I'm too affectionate,'" said Milano.

The "Charmed" star then echoed a line the political Right had been emphasizing ad nauseam: there is a spectrum when it come to sexual misconduct.

"And I think that this brings up a really important question that we really haven’t touched on in MeToo," she said. “Often in these moments, where we’re hearing these stories, I think it’s importance to emphasize the difference in these stories."

Milano then directly addressed the accusations from former state Senator Lucy Flores (D-NV), who said Biden grabbed her shoulders, smelled her hair, and kissed the back of her head during a 2014 encounter.

Apparently this interaction was nothing more than an expression of Biden’s “culture differences.”

"For me, the thing that set this story — the Ms. Flores story — apart from all the other stories: To Joe, this is a culture difference, because culturally he was raised in a family that was super affectionate,” Milano said.

“For him, this was a realization of, well, everyone sort of grows up in a different household, then maybe my actions make other people uncomfortable, and it was an acknowledgment,” the actress continued. “So I think it was important that it came out and I think that it is important to have men support women and say, ‘I hear you, and I wanna learn and make a change.’”

 

For good measure, in defense of Biden’s actions, Milano offered an example of herself, a self-described “affectionate” person, crossing the line on set with the “prop guy.”

“I’m a very affectionate person, as well,” Milano explained. “I walked onto set a few weeks ago and I kissed my prop guy on the arm, and I had this moment of, like, maybe that made him uncomfortable.”

“That would have never crossed my mind before MeToo,” she added. “So I think we all have to look at our interactions and proceed cautiously.”

Milano was leading the Hollywood charge against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh last year, when he was non-credibly accused by Christine Blasey Ford of decades-old misconduct that lacked corroboration.

Milano took Ford’s side without hesitation and appeared at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings to “represent survivors of sexual assault.”

"It was a very hard day to be in that room, but I was proud to be a woman and I was proud to be a survivor, and I felt like I needed to be there for other survivors that couldn't be there," the actress told CNN at the time.

 

WATCH:

Tom Elliott@tomselliott

.@Alyssa_Milano defends Biden: "He was raised in a family that was super affectionate."

Adds she knows what it's like: "I walked onto set a few weeks ago and I kissed our prop guy on the arm. And I had this moment of, like, maybe that made him uncomfortable."

11:01 PM - Apr 29, 2019

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