Not Just a Rape Joke: Nene Leakes stand up routine goes too far

What sounds like a reckless line from Family Guy is actually what NeNe Leakes, of Housewives of Atlanta wished upon a heckler at a recent comedy show. Allow me to reiterate, a 49-year-old adult woman wished rape on another woman, whom she did not know… as a joke.
A question for the ignorant, which part was funny? Was it instilling worry into the audience member about her safety on the Uber ride home? Or maybe it was the ringing statistic that one of every five women will be raped at some point in their life. Oh no, wait, it’s the irony in the fact that the incident happened at a Girls Night Out event.
This isn’t the first time someone has manipulated rape as a joke instead of recognizing it as a real issue. It’s not solely the fault of NeNe Leakes, who in her released Facebook apology states, “As a woman and someone who has survived abuse, I regret the words that I used. I made a mistake and I should have known better.”
Yes, she should have known better. The normalization of rape and victim blaming in today’s society increases the likelihood of matters like this to continuously reoccur. The solution lies in prevention and not cure.
Perhaps not saying ignorant things initially is the future, and releasing bi-weekly half-assed apologies is phasing into the past.
Shockingly enough, Leakes considers herself an abuse victim, and despite that still felt responding with a rape joke was appropriate. Logically, victims of abuse should be more open to understanding different forms of abuse, and not wishing them on anyone else.
Jokes are understandable. However, a joke defined is, “a thing that someone says to cause amusement or laughter, especially a story with a funny punchline.”
There are lines in comedy that can be crossed. Tight rope walking on rape jokes probably isn’t the smartest thing for a new comedian to try.
The audience didn’t laugh after the tasteless comment by Leakes, they booed. Some critics now mark the recent incident as the death of Leakes short lived career as a comedian.