When you are a big media company that positions itself as something of a watchdog website, there are a few simple rules your social media people should follow. One of those rules—perhaps the first on that list of internet rules—is don’t make rape jokes.
Don’t make rape jokes.
https://twitter.com/ManuclearBomb/status/662390880012255232
That post was created Thursday afternoon by someone who has—read: probably had—the keys to the Facebook account for Vice Sports. “She said no” to pressing charges would perhaps be a clever pun if it wasn’t, again, about rape or sexual assault. The fact the article references the news that Kane will not face charges for rape in part because his accuser will no longer agree to cooperate with the prosecutor makes the reference ever that most distasteful.
With that, amidst intense media (and social media) scrutiny, Vice Sports clarified the statement, via Twitter and Facebook.
An earlier FB post referenced a chant directed at Patrick Kane. It was an inappropriate use, since corrected. We regret the error.
— VICE Sports (@VICESports) November 5, 2015
Pardon the expression, but that explanation is a bunch of horsehockey. In no way was “she said no” taken by anyone reading that post as a reference to the chant people were lobbing at Kane.
To even suggest that instead of simply apologizing for the reference and moving past this poor attempt at humor is almost worse than the original post. It’s certainly worse than posting the old “sorry not sorry” trope by telling readers you apologize to anyone who was offended, which Vice Sports couldn’t even muster up the respect to do.
Instead, the correction by Vice Sports reads more like they simply “regret” we didn’t get the joke.
How hard is this? Don’t make rape jokes. And if you do (remember, don’t), just apologize for it. Don’t try to explain it.
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About Dan Levy
Dan Levy has written a lot of words in a lot of places, most recently as the National Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. He was host of The Morning B/Reakaway on Sirius XM's Bleacher Report Radio for the past year, and previously worked at Sporting News and Rutgers University, with a concentration on sports, media and public relations.