Dustin Penner’s rape jokes don’t go over very well on Twitter

Dustin Penner runs a pretty funny Twitter feed.

He has an acerbic wit, and cracks jokes at the expense of ex-teammates and trolls. He also asked President Obama is he had a place he could crash for a while when Penner was traded to the Washington Capitals.  

Alas, every comedian has their blind spot, and apparently Penner’s is making demeaning jokes about women, and then trying to rationalize it.

Like the time he called a 19-year-old driving a nice car a “prostitute.” That didn’t go over well.

Then on Saturday night, Penner, currently a free agent, made a joke about rape.

And it didn’t go over well.

Is it always consensual if she’s your girlfriend? Asking for my gf…& shortly arriving police

— Dustin Penner (@Dustinpenner25) March 1, 2015

Oof. The number of rapes, reported and unreported, that occur within dating relationships and marriages is staggering. This was … a rather regrettable joke. 

Followed by:

I came up with the joke with my gf U idiots freaking out about this.

— Dustin Penner (@Dustinpenner25) March 1, 2015

Is it still a terrible joke if your girlfriend consents to the punchline? A question for the ages. 

And an immaterial one, as Penner then doubles-down:

Is it a rape joke if it’s your girlfriend? Is this even my girlfriend?!?!

— Dustin Penner (@Dustinpenner25) March 1, 2015

It may have been around this time when Penner saw some hockey fans on Twitter messaging TSN about his appearance on their trade deadline coverage on Monday, working with “Cabral ‘Cabbie’ Richards to provide a different take on TRADECENTRE” by exploring “the trending topics of Deadline Day and creating their own original hashtags.”

Because having the rape joke guy as your social media monitor probably wasn’t part of the production meeting. 

So Penner then Tweeted:

I see the offensive side of my joke. On behalf of those who laughed, my gf & I included, I apologize. We understand we are awful people.

— Dustin Penner (@Dustinpenner25) March 1, 2015

Hashtags such as: #HalfheartedApology.

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