The BET television network is being bashed on social media over a tweet issued from its official account that makes an awkward joke about rape that nobody found funny.
A report from Entertainment Weekly explains that the offending tweet linked to a “BET Breaks” news roundup video, with one of the news items involving Kesha’s allegation that Dr. Luke raped Katy Perry.
“Hide ya wife, hide ya kids, they raping er’body here! ALLEGEDLY!” read the tweet, which has since been deleted.
As you’d expect, the tweet led to a tsunami of backlash.
After deleting the tweet, BET issued a statement to EW apologizing and claiming an internal investigation was being undertaken.
“BET Networks does not condone language that makes light of sexual assault,” the network said in its statement. “This post should never have been written and we apologize for the post. We have deleted the tweet and are conducting an internal investigation of this serious matter.”
Despite the apology, the controversy over the tweet isn’t simmering down. Check out a sampling of the criticism Twitter users have thrown BET’s way:
