Serena Williams is without a doubt one of the greatest players in tennis history. She has 23 grand slam titles to her name and is considered to be the face that revolutionized women’s tennis. She brought the concept of ‘sheer power’ to women’s tennis and made it popular in the 21st century with her charismatic game style.
But despite being one of the greats, Serena has been in the middle of many controversies over the years. Most of them may be due to her ‘give it back’ attitude but she has been on the wrong side of things at times too. For instance, her comments on a rape victim in 2013 were under a lot of scrutinies.
In March 2013, two high school football players from Ohio were accused of raping a drunk teenage girl and also posted pictures of the incident online. This was met with a lot of outbursts in the country and in an issue of Rolling Stone magazine, Serena was asked about the same.
Instead of basing the two boys, Serena questioned whether their punishment was fair or not. She was very hesitant in lashing out at them and instead questioned the girl and her parents instead- What was she, at the age of 16, doing drunk at a party?
“Do you think it was fair, what they got? They did something stupid, but I don’t know. I’m not blaming the girl, but if you’re a 16-year-old and you’re drunk like that, your parents should teach you: Don’t take drinks from other people,” she told Rolling Stone.
She further asked why the girl was so drunk despite being only 16 and said that things could’ve been much worse. She also said that the girl probably wasn’t a virgin. “She’s 16, why was she that drunk where she doesn’t remember? It could have been much worse. She’s lucky. Obviously, I don’t know, maybe she wasn’t a virgin, but she shouldn’t have put herself in that position, unless they slipped her something, then that’s different,” she said.
Serena Williams issued a no condition apology to the girl and her family
After receiving a lot of backlashes, Serena issued a written apology and condemned the Steubenville rape case and called it shocking. She expressed her sadness and called the incident a ‘horrible tragedy’.
“What happened in Steubenville was a real shock for me. I was deeply saddened. For someone to be raped, and at only sixteen, is such a horrible tragedy! For both families involved — that of the rape victim and of the accused,” she wrote.
She also said that she is reaching out to the girl’s family to offer help and apologized for what was written in the Rolling Stone article. She admitted that whatever was written was insensitive and hurtful and clarified that the girl is not to be blamed.
“I am currently reaching out to the girl’s family to let her know that I am deeply sorry for what was written in the Rolling Stone article. What was written – what I supposedly said — is insensitive and hurtful, and I by no means would say or insinuate that she was at all to blame,” Williams added.
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