We Spleen: CeeLo Green’s Rape-Splaining

“I truly and deeply apologize for the comments attributed to me on Twitter. Those comments were idiotic, untrue and not what I believe.”

And there you have it folks, one of the most passive, responsibility dodging apologies ever written. Singer CeeLo Green tweeted this out on Monday in a feeble mea culpa after he invoked the wrath of the Twitterverse with a string of moronic and offensive tweets about rape.

It seems the “Fuck You” singer  keeps digging a deeper hole for himself. Back in July of 2012, Green allegedly slipped MDMA into his date’s drink while dining at a Los Angeles restaurant. The unnamed woman woke up naked in bed with him the next day with no recollection of the night before. He pleaded no contest to the felony of providing Ecstasy in a subsequent hearing and avoided prison time, being sentenced to three years’ probation and 45 days of community service. He was never even charged with sexual assault since the L.A. district attorney cited lack of evidence.

After essentially being given a slap on wrist, he took to Twitter to defend himself, tweeting “People who have really been raped REMEMBER!!!” He then added: “If someone is passed out they’re not even WITH you consciously! so WITH Implies consent.” Both of these statements are unequivocally false and the types of rape-splaining feminists have been trying to debunk for years.

The Twitter backlash was swift:

Green hastily deleted the tweets, stating he would “never condone the harm of any women” and that the tweets were “taken so far out of context.” Eventually, he just deleted his entire account but was back online this week to issue his non-apology apology.

He’s no stranger to putting his foot in his mouth on Twitter. After a music writer gave him an unfavorable review in 2011, he unleashed a harangue of homophobic tweets, saying the the writer must have been threatened by his masculine stage presence.

These “Twittergate” scandals always have a way of blowing over if the celebrity involved is famous enough. But with the ire Green has drawn for his insensitivity and fans threatening to drop his music from their playlists, hopefully celebrities will begin to think twice about asinine comments they make online. Thanks to decades of work by feminists, people are less and less keen to take blithe comments about sexual assault lightly.

Photo of CeeLo Green courtesy of Jon Siegel via Creative Commons 2.0.

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Associate editor of Ms. magazine