• Home
  • Sports
  • Israel Adesanya under fire for ‘rape’ comment he made towards another fighter
Sports

Israel Adesanya under fire for ‘rape’ comment he made towards another fighter

UFC star, Israel Adesanya is under fire over the ‘rape’ comment he made towards his fellow fighter. 

“Bro, I will fuckin’ rape you,” the Nigerian-born New Zealand MMA fighter posted in a video to his Instagram story directed at fellow UFC middleweight Kevin Holland, who had targeted him with a series of insulting remarks last week. Adesanya later deleted the post.

New Zealand’s deputy prime minister, Grant Robertson, who is also the sports minister, has now blasted the middleweight champ and called on the UFC to take action.

He said: “There is never a time to make flippant comments about rape. It’s just not something anybody should do.

“I’m sure Israel understands that. I believe he has deleted the tweet in question. It will be up to the UFC as to what they do.

“But I would certainly be making clear to him, and to anybody actually, that we have to take rape seriously.

“It’s not an issue that anyone should be making jokes or flippant comments about at all.”

Rape Prevention Education executive director Debbi Tohill also told NZ outlet Stuff: “People with a large social media following can play a significant role in reducing rates of sexual violence and creating healthy cultures of consent for any sexual activity.

“Conversely, this kind of comments where rape is used as a threat create a culture where it is acceptable to make sexualised comments with the potential to cause further harm.

“Sportspeople and celebrities can really influence young people, we would like to see this happen in a positive way, not misused and normalising threats of sexual violence.”

Adesanya did not respond to the comments directly but tweeted a gif alongside the words: “Incoming clickbait NZ media in 3, 2, 1… This is what it’s all about…CLOUT!!”

Related posts

Sadio Mane joins Bayern Munich on three-year contract from Liverpool

theKorrespondent

Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and three Morocco stars make L’Equipe’s team of the World Cup

theKorrespondent

Super Eagles coach, Jose Peseiro says It’s tough choosing right players

theKorrespondent

Leave a Comment

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More