Microsoft apologizes for ‘rape joke’

At the Microsoft Press Conference on Monday a male and female MS representative took to the stage to demonstrate Killer Instinct. As the round of virtual fighting got underway the male quickly dominated the match landing every blow and giving the woman little chance to respond to the onslaught. Their fight-talk (which in my opinion seemed rehearsed) quickly escalated and near the end of the round and close to defeat the woman complained ‘I can’t even block correctly and you’re too fast‘ to which the man replied ‘just let it happen, it’ll be over soon‘. The audience chuckled and laughed for a few seconds and all was forgotten.. or so they thought.
After the show it was clear that the remark caused a bit more of an uproar than they thought and complaints were coming in from angry gamers and viewers about the apparent ‘rape joke’.

Microsoft have since released a statement saying,

Yesterday, during the Xbox E3 briefing, one of our employees made an off the cuff and inappropriate comment while demoing ‘Killer Instinct’ with another employee. This comment was offensive and we apologize – Phil Spencer, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Studios

It saddens me to see people making a fuss about what was obviously an off the cuff joke that came with no ill intentions. Most people watching the show never even noticed the remark and those that did probably didn’t think to link it to something as damning as rape.

See the moment in question in the embeded video below and decide for yourself.