The Cleveland Cavaliers have apologised after they showed an in-game video on Wednesday night of a man throwing his girlfriend to the floor for being a Chicago Bulls fan.
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“We ran a 1-minute in-arena video that was intended to be a humorous spoof on a popular commercial centered on a song and dance from the classic movie ‘Dirty Dancing,'” the Cavaliers said Thursday in a statement. “While the video was not intended to be offensive, it was a mistake to include content that made light of domestic violence.
“Domestic violence is a very serious matter and has no place in a parody video that plays in an entertainment venue. We sincerely apologize to those who have been affected by domestic violence for the obvious negative feelings caused by being exposed to this insensitive video.”
It is understood that members of the Cavs’ game-operations team and marketing team met on Thursday morning to discuss what went wrong and to ensure that there are no repeats of the situation moving forward.
The spoof video can be seen below, but essentially shows a couple listening to the ‘Dirty Dancing’ soundtrack before the Cavs fan throws his Bulls-supporting girlfriend across the room where she is later seen sporting an ice-pack on her head.
Clearly, despite the fact that it was meant as a joke, it didn’t go down well and has received a negative reaction for seemingly taking domestic violence lightly.
It isn’t expected that the video will be aired again by the Cavs given the backlash, but they have certainly been left red-faced by their mistake.
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