bayarea.com
Schwarzenegger acknowledges, apologizes for `offensive' behavior
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Gubernatorial front-runner Arnold Schwarzenegger, acknowledging that he has ``behaved badly'' to women over the years, offered an apology today and promised that he has changed.
Schwarzenegger's remarks, as he kicked off a four-day bus tour of the state, came after a Los Angeles Times story in which six women accused him of sexually harassing and groping them over the years.
``Yes, it is true that I was on rowdy movie sets and I have done things that were not right which I thought then was playful but now I recognize that I offended people,'' he said.
``Those people that I have offended, I want to say to them I am deeply sorry about that and I apologize because that's not what I'm trying to do.''
Schwarzenegger added that from this point on he would prove he is a ``champion for women.''
``Now let's go from the dirty politics back to the future of California,'' Schwarzenegger said.
The Los Angeles Times reported today that six women told them the actor touched them in a sexual manner without their consent on movie sets and in other settings over the last three decades.
The Times, quoting two of the women by name and the rest anonymously, said the instances of unwanted fondling and groping allegedly occurred as far back as 1975 and as recently as 2000.
None of the women who spoke with the Times filed legal action against the actor.
Schwarzenegger campaign officials initially said the actor had not engaged in improper conduct toward women.
In San Diego to kick off a weekend-long bus tour of the state, Schwarzenegger took the stage to chants of ``Arnold, Arnold'' and immediately addressed the Times story. Without mentioning specifics, he admitted to wrongdoing and apologized.
``This morning they have begun with the tearing down ... I know, I know the people of California will see through this trash politics,'' he said.
``A lot of the stuff in the story is not true ... but I have to say that where there's smoke there's fire,'' he said.
Hundreds of supporters gathered inside the San Diego Convention Center for the tour kickoff rally along with scores of reporters. Several women in the crowd held signs reading, ``Remarkable Women Join Arnold.''
Before Schwarzenegger's remarks, several said they didn't believe the article and didn't think it would affect his campaign.
``I think it's baloney,'' said Kendall DePascal, 41, a marketing specialist from San Diego. ``You know what, he worked on a movie set. You encounter people who make claims about you right and left. I don't believe it at all.''
She held a photo of herself with Schwarzenegger from the 1980s taken at a hotel in Hawaii where she had approached him for an autograph.
``I think most people have made up their minds. I think California is in a state of emergency. I think jobs are the issue,'' she said.
Outside the center, two Democratic Party activists protested. One held up the front page of the Los Angeles Times with the article on the alleged harassment.
The Times said it did not learn of any of the six women from Schwarzenegger's rivals in the recall race.
Three of the women told the Times that Schwarzenegger grabbed their breasts. Another said he reached under her skirt and grabbed her buttocks.
Still another woman said Schwarzenegger tried to remove her bathing suit in a hotel elevator, and the sixth said Schwarzenegger pulled her onto his lap and asked whether a certain sexual act had ever been performed on her.
According to the accounts, the first incident occurred in the 1970s, the next two were in the 1980s, followed by two more in the 1990s and one in 2000.
A spokesman for Gov. Gray Davis said the governor's campaign was not involved in publicizing any of the accusations, and the Times said it did not locate the women with the help of any of Schwarzenegger's opponents. |
