Former President George H.W. Bush had to issue a thousand points of apology Wednesday after two women accused him of fondling their backsides.
A spokesman for the 93-year-old acknowledged in a statement that on a few occasions Bush “has patted women’s rears in what he intended to be a good-natured manner.”
The awkward touches are the result of Bush’s arm falling too low at times when he poses with people for pictures — a weakness developed over five years in a wheelchair, the spokesman said.
“To try to put people at ease, the President routinely tells the same joke,” the spokesman’s statement said.
Actress Jordana Grolnick said she heard the joke in August 2016 when the 41st President “reached his right hand around to my behind” while she posed with him and wife Barbara Bush backstage at a Maine Theater.
“As we smiled for the photo he asked the group, ‘Do you want to know who my favorite magician is?’” the actress told Deadspin.
“As I felt his hand dig into my flesh, he said, ‘David Cop-a-Feel!’” she said.
“To anyone he has offended, President Bush apologizes most sincerely,” the statement said.
The 41st President issued the apology after being accused of sexual assault by “Turn” star Heather Lind.
The actress and the President met in 2014 during a special screening of the AMC show a week before its premiere.
“He didn’t shake my hand. He touched me from behind from his wheelchair with his wife Barbara Bush by his side. He told me a dirty joke. And then, all the while being photographed, touched me again. Barbara rolled her eyes as if to say ‘not again,’” Lind wrote Tuesday in an Instagram post she has since deleted.
She said she told her castmates about the alleged assault, but didn’t go public with her accusation until seeing “the bravery of other women who have spoken up and written about their experiences.”