CeeLo Green has shaken up quite a bit of controversy of late. Between the court case regarding furnishing a woman with ecstasy, fighting off an alleged rape accusation, and tweeting inappropriate and disrespectful comments about rape, Green has gained a lot of unwanted negative attention from the media.
The Huffington Post reported that Green was sentenced to three years of probation and 45 days of community service on Aug. 29 due to his one felony count of furnishing ecstasy to a woman.
Two days later, Green turned to Twitter to blow off some steam. Allegedly, Green made some atrocious comments about rape, such as “If someone is passed out they’re not even WITH you consciously! so WITH implies consent” he tweeted, according to Buzzfeed, as well as tweeting “People who have really been raped REMEMBER!!!” Green should have thought a lot more about these tweets before he sent them. It’s interesting that he chose to say that real victims of rape remember the event, when so many people are given drugs and excessive amounts of alcohol to interfere with their memory in order to make them more accessible as rape victims.
Christine Bertinetti, a senior psychology major at UT stated that she was disgusted by what Green said. “I don’t know how he could think that someone being unconscious would imply consent”, said Bertinetti. Having sex with a woman or man while she or he is unconscious cannot imply consent in any way–no more than being asleep or unconscious while someone robs your house implies that you wanted them to do so. While that seems painfully obvious to me, apparently Green does not feel the same way.
Sexual assault is not something that should be taken lightly, never mind completely disparaged on a popular social networking site like Twitter. The fact that Green found it appropriate to tweet about such a traumatic event for both women and men is disturbing. Bertinetti feels as though Twitter can be a useful tool to get a point across or raise awareness for something you are trying to discuss. In this situation, however, “It was unnecessary. Especially someone who has been accused of rape, you probably shouldn’t put that out there,” said Bertinetti.
The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) states that one out of every six American women have experienced rape, while one out of every 33 men have experienced rape. With rape being so common in the U.S., we should not be referring to it in a disrespectful manner due to the vast amount of people who have been and still are being effected by rape.
Green later utilized Twitter to apologize to his followers for his tweets on Monday, Sept. 1. After making such controversial comments, I feel as though Green should be apologizing much more officially than a simple tweet. On the other hand, Bertinetti felt as though Green’s Twitter apology did the trick, considering that’s where he made the comments in the first place. While Twitter is an extremely useful tool that has allowed Green to reach millions of followers, he should make a much more personal attempt at apologizing so that people know he is sincere. I, for one, do not feel that Green has taken any appropriate steps towards making amends for what he said to the world.
Elizabeth Rockett can be reached at elizabeth.rockett@spartans.ut.edu