I can’t believe the news in my in-box today: UFC President Dana White made a prison rape joke in response to someone on twitter! This comes barely a week after he fired fighter Miguel Torres for making a “rape van” joke on twitter. Seriously, White? Seriously?!
This makes the fourth rape joke coming from a UFC fighter or management in a month’s time. This includes a rape joke tweeted by Forrest Griffin last month and a Penn State joke from Rashad Evans during a live press conference the same day as Torres’ tweet.
Interestingly, Torres is the only one to be publicly punished or sanctioned for his actions, which is why there is a petition calling for FOX Sports to drop the UFC unless they enact a code of conduct. Recent events show that even White himself needs a reminder on what is appropriate conduct for someone named one of the 50 most influential people in sports.
And I’m not the only one calling for action! People within the mixed martial arts community are calling for White and the UFC to take responsibility for rape jokes and hate speech!
And if there is any question that UFC fighters are considered role models or whether or not the sport is marketed to kids, here’s a link to UFC action figures sold at Toys R Us (including a Forrest Griffin doll and a Rashad Evans doll). There’s a petition asking the company to remove the dolls, some of which depict fighters who’ve used hate speech and joked about sexual assault.
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