Author and radio host Garrison Keillor on Tuesday dismissed a picture of Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., groping a female radio host by saying it was a pretend grope that was done “in a spirit of low comedy.”

In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Keillor said the picture was taken in 2006 during a USO tour that he did “from deep in his heart, out of patriotism.”