War Machine managed to talk himself into trouble on Twitter yesterday with an ill-advised rape joke, but it appears that his Bellator boss Bjorn Rebney is willing to forgive and forget.
“Just raped @ChristyMack She tried to make me wait until “after errands” As if! =p” War Machine boasted on the social media network.
War Machine, who’s girlfriend Christy Mack is a famous porn-star, immediately followed up with another post which he presumably thought would make the previous statement ok…but only dug a deeper hole for himself.
“Real men rape. ( Their GF’s and wives, not strangers, don’t get your panties in a bunch.)”
Needless to say these “jokes” didn’t exactly go down too well. That didn’t stop WM from initially trying to defend what he’d said.
“Apparently you idiots didn’t read my tweet prior to the one y’all are crying about, it puts it in the right context. Sensitive ass bitches.”
“Context is the word…y’all motherfuckers just love to take what I say out of CONTEXT and then attempt to demonize me with it. #DIESLOW”
It’s likely someone from Bellator had a word in his shell-like at this stage because some time later he changed his tune and issued a formal apology.
“I tweeted something earlier that was stupid, insensitive and wrong. Rape is never something to joke about ever. I sincerely apologize.”
His girlfriend also posted on her Twitter account to assure fans that he had only been joking.
“To be clear, @WarMachine170 says stupid things at times; we all know this. He did not rape me, nor would he rape any woman (or man).”
In the past, UFC fighters who’ve posted ill-advised, offensive comments about rape have been suspended from the promotion, but Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney has opted to take a different approach in this instance.
“I agree with those who found Jon’s earlier statement to be offensive and inappropriate. And, while his public apology (“I tweeted something earlier that was stupid, insensitive and wrong. Rape is never something to joke about ever. I sincerely apologize”) surely does not excuse his statement, it does evidence his recognition of the seriousness of the situation and his realization that what he said was offensive, ignorant and hurtful. Since the day I entered this business, I’ve believed that my job was to treat our fighters like human beings and not like property. Human beings make mistakes and sometimes say stupid things.
I’m surely prepared to take action in warranted situations as evidenced by recent promotional contracts we have terminated with well-known, popular fighters who have committed assault and/or who have broken the law. But, in this situation, I remain hopeful that Jon will learn from his mistake, redeem himself and become a better man for it and I would like to give him that chance. “
So, a lucky escape then for the controversial fighter who spent two out of the last three years in jail on assault charges.
He’s currently preparing to fight on Bellator’s 100th show against Vaughn Anderson in a little over a month’s time in the quarter-finals of the promotion’s latest welterweight tournament and would do well to keep a low profile and focus on his fighting career from now until then.
That’s not exactly War Machine’s style though and he was back manning his Twitter page just a few hours after his initial apology.
“Hate it when my woman falls asleep early…grrrrr…WM can never get enough
