What in the world were the Cleveland Cavaliers thinking? They obviously weren't thinking at all.
During Game 2 of their playoff series with the Chicago Bulls at Quicken Loans Arena on Wednesday night, the Cavs showed a video of a domestic-violence parody on their jumbotron for thousands of fans—and because of the Internet, millions more at home—to see.
Obviously, domestic violence is no laughing matter, but somebody within the team's organization must have thought otherwise.
That's because the video shows a couple dancing to "Time of My Life" in a Dirty Dancing parody that goes wrong, when the boyfriend realizes that his girlfriend has a Bulls' T-shirt on. Reenacting the jump-and-lift scene that Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey made famous in Dirty Dancing, the boyfriend instead lifts his girlfriend up in the air and slams her to the ground in disgust that she's rooting for Chicago. Shaking our heads.
One has to think that multiple people—maybe writers, marketing employees and definitely the actors—green-lighted this before it aired on the jumbotron of Quicken Loans Arena...and we're just shocked nobody stopped to say, 'Hold on, wait a minute.'
What's worse is the boyfriend in the video says, "Bulls' fan? I didn't know you're a Bulls' fan...I can't believe she's a Bulls' fan," before a narrator's voice adds, "when it's playoff basketball time, you have to be all in" and "don't make the same mistake she made." Shaking our heads more.
With the awareness of domestic-violence at an all-time high after the Ray Rice incident, this clearly wasn't thought through. Do better, Cavs.
Update: The Cavaliers issued an apology Thursday afternoon.
"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, as reported by ESPN. "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," the statement added. "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."
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