What about in the context of Franken's pic fake grabbing Tweeden's boobs? Is this different since he was an entertainer who had taken who knows how many pics with people?

The question I'm getting at here is, What if you simply don't remember (as I believe was the case with Franken)? Is there a scale of reprehensible behavior, Northam's being at the "worse" end and Franken's being somewhere in the middle?

Again, I'm definitely not excusing Northam's behavior. I do think that it would have been different if he had stated he had done some racist things in the past (not needing to cite the pic in question, just giving a blanket statement).