Israeli newspaper refers to Sen. Al Franken as ‘gay’

Israeli newspaper Haaretz turned many heads on Thursday afternoon when it referred to Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) as “gay” on Twitter.

{mosads}“Gay Jewish U.S. Senator Al Franken endorses #IranDeal,” the paper tweeted to its thousands of readers in reference to the Minnesota Dem’s just-announced decision to back the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran.

The tweet was deleted minutes later, but not before it raised several eyebrows for its mischaracterization of Franken’s sexuality.

Franken, a former “Saturday Night Live” player, married his college sweetheart, Franni Bryson, in 1975. They have two children together.

“Does his wife know?” inquired one follower.

wow i had no idea al franken was jewish pic.twitter.com/P61Uft5jsS

— andy levy (@andylevy) August 13, 2015

Haaretz, Israel’s oldest daily newspaper, is often referred to as the Israeli paper of record and “the Israeli New York Times.”

It remains unclear what prompted the tweet; a request for comment was not immediately returned. 

UPDATE 7:00 p.m.: Haaretz has since tweeted a retraction, calling the previous post a “misfired tweet”:

Oops. Apologies for misfired tweet about @AlFranken. A moment of madness on the desk. #eggonourface. The real story: http://t.co/R5jQ0cvUrQ

— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) August 13, 2015