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Massage therapist claims Al Gore attacked her
Vice President became angry when I refused his request to ‘go lower’ claims masseuse
Police in Portland, Oregon have confirmed that they investigated complaints last year by a 54-year-old masseuse that she was "subjected to unwanted sexual touching" by former Vice President Al Gore in October 2006, but that the case had been closed because of insufficient evidence.
The woman - unnamed but described as a licensed massage therapist - only told the police about the incident two years after it allegedly happened at the Lucia Hotel in Portland.
Gore was booked in as 'Mr Stone' but the hotel had explained that it was actually a VIP, Al Gore, in town for a climate change speech, whom she would be seeing. When she went to his room, the masseuse found the former vice president drinking beer and opening his arms, saying "Call me Al".
According to a 73-page 'Confidential Special Report' made public by Portland police yesterday, the masseuse was asked to do abdominal and "abductor" work on Gore. The latter meant massaging his inner thigh, she explained to police.
But when she started working on his abdomen, he began to moan and demanded she "go lower". She told police: "I was shocked, and I did not massage beyond what is considered a safe, nonsexual area of the abdomen... He further insisted and acted angry, becoming verbally sharp and loud.
"I went into much deeper shock as I realised it appeared he was demanding sexual favours or sexual behaviours."
The woman said Gore grabbed her hand and shoved it toward his groin. He then "flipped me flat on my back and threw his whole body face down over atop me pinning me down and outweighing me by quite a bit."
She claimed she injured her back and legs as a result. "He kept trying to have sex with me," said the woman, who described the situation as "frightening."
At the time, Gore was busy promoting his recently released documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth. It was a year before he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his campaigning on climate change.
Asked why she had not immediately reported the incident to police, the masseuse said: "I was not sure what to tell them and was concerned my story would not be believed since there was no DNA evidence from a completed act of rape. I did not even know what to call what had happened to me."
The Gore family, which on June 1 announced the former VP and his wife Tipper were breaking up after 40 years of marriage, has declined to comment. The police issued the report following publication of an interview with the masseuse in the National Enquirer. ·
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At first as I read the story, I was quite upset that the author kept going back and forth between "Licensed Massage Therapist" and "Masseuse", but then I realized that this was the UK edition. In the UK, "Masseuse" is an acceptable term. In America, however, it is not. It refers to prostitution. Sadly, most media outlets ignore that, and calls us masseuses anyways, including men. This is strange coming from a country where we are not to say "Shell Shock", but instead, must say, 'Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder".