Cee Lo Green Speaks on ‘Highly Irresponsible’ Rape Tweets
Cee Lo Green has apologized for controversial tweets regarding rape that the singer made in August 2014 after he pleaded no contest to drug charges. “I do realize in retrospect that it was highly sensitive, what I tweeted – highly irresponsible,” Green said. “It did stem from emotion causing some involuntary action, and I do believe that, maybe just possibly, we could all give each other a margin for human error.”
Speaking to The Sunday Times (via NME), Green said of his tweets, “In those instances I do realize I’m an artist, that I’m flawed; and sometimes, you know, you don’t think. I was most certainly not thinking, not considering whom I might offend. And to those many people, however many or however few, I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize again.”
Green pleaded no contest in August 2014 to one felony count of furnishing a controlled substance stemming from the July 2012 incident where a woman accused him of slipping ecstasy into her drink. As part of his plea deal, Green admitted that he “shared” the drug with woman but did not “slip” it. Green was ordered to complete 360 hours of community service alongside 52 Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous meetings.
Green was not charged with rape after prosecutors found the sex to be consensual, and soon after pleading no contest, the singer defended himself on Twitter, where he implied that it’s not rape if the person is “passed out.” “If someone is passed out they’re not even WITH you consciously, so WITH implies consent,” Green tweeted. “People who have really been raped REMEMBER!!!”
Green soon removed the tweets, apologized (“I’d never condone the harm of any women”) and briefly deleted his Twitter account entirely.
Green was so regretful about what he tweeted and how people now perceived him that he wanted to name his new album Girl Power before he ultimately settled on the title Heart Blanche. “At one point it was called Girl Power, because it is all about the adornment, the upliftment, the exaltment and the appreciation of all things woman,” Green said, describing women as “our most miraculous muse – an enchantment that encourages all art.”
Heart Blanche is due out November 13th. The singer has already shared his interactive Google search-fueled lyric video for “Robin Williams.”