R&B singer CeeLo Green posted a series of controversial tweets about rape over the weekend, then deleted his account after receiving criticism for his comments. According to Billboard, Green’s tweets were related to a court case in which he pleaded no contest to a felony count of Ecstasy possession after he gave a woman the drug without her knowledge on a 2012 date.
In July 2012, Green reportedly slipped his date Ecstasy during their dinner at a sushi restaurant in Los Angeles. The woman woke up in bed with him the next day and had no memory of the night before. Green claimed that the sex had been consensual, and prosecutors didn’t press rape charges. The Gnarls Barkley singer was sentenced to three years’ probation and 45 days of community service on Friday.
Green took to Twitter to defend himself on Monday. “If someone is passed out they’re not even WITH you consciously, so WITH Implies consent,” he wrote in a first tweet. “People who have really been raped REMEMBER!!!” he tweeted in a second comment.
Shortly after, Green deleted the tweets and apologized via Twitter: “Let me 1st praise god for exoneration fairness & freedom! Secondly I sincerely apologize for my comments being taken so far out of context.” Then he added: “I only intended on a healthy exchange to help heal those who love me from the pain I had already caused from this. Please forgive me as it was your support that got me thru this to begin with. I’d never condone the harm of any women. Thank you.”
Green’s account has since been deleted.
