Glenn Beck's family history of rape and abuse is tragic. It's also irrelevant.

The provocateur's personal history doesn't excuse him for helping to perpetuate offensive, dangerous stereotypes about sexual assault

Glenn Beck
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst))

A minor firestorm recently erupted over a sketch produced by Glenn Beck's colleagues at The Blaze, which was designed to mock a White House initiative to reduce sexual violence on college campuses. In the sketch, one man convinces a fellow male staffer, dressed as a giggling, hair-twirling blonde woman, to have sex with him by saying things like, "You should have sex with me, I will always love you" and "You should have sex with me or I'll tell everyone you have sex with me." At that point, commentator Stu Burguiere jumps in with a giant red arrow that says "RAPE," in an attempt to ridicule the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey's study on rape and sexual coercion:

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Scott Meslow

Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.