The Mayor of Copenhagen has been forced to apologise after allegedly licking and groping a number of his female colleagues at the office Christmas party.
Frank Jensen drank too much, licked the ear of one woman and the neck of another and grabbed two others, according to a report by the Ekstra Bladet tabloid newspaper.
According to BT, after receiving a reprimand for his randy behaviour behind closed doors, Jensen was forced to make a general apology at the New Year’s party a week later. But still not satisfied, the mayor’s political opponent Pia Allerslev has now called for a public explanation of Jensen’s unruly ways.
“It’s not about Frank Jensen,” Allerslev told Politiken newspaper. “It’s about ensuring that employees can feel safe attending social events at City Hall and about making sure that it remains Denmark’s best workplace.”
With seemingly no one left on Jensen’s team, the chorus has also been joined by his political allies. “We’re backing up the call for an explanation from the city manager about how this case, which we have all read about in the papers, is being handled on behalf of the employees,” Mikkel Warming (EL), the deputy mayor for social affairs, told Politiken.
However, Nina Thomsen, a Socialistisk Folkeparti city councillor, said that although “sexual harassment is never okay”, she feels the issue has already been dealt with appropriately.
Jensen was also given a slap on the wrist after a Christmas party in 2004 when, as the party’s political spokesman, he upset an intern with his apparent advances.
“I don’t remember exactly what happened,” Jensen said at the time. “But apparently I said something that offended her. I suppose I was running my mouth and paid her some compliments, which she took the wrong way,” he added.