Vanderbilt, in midst of rape case, apologizes for ‘We Don’t Need Your Permission!' tweet

Published Aug. 6, 2015 3:45 p.m. ET

foxsports

The Vanderbilt official football Twitter account apologized Thursday after sending out a questionable slogan that has caused an uproar on social media.

The offending tweet, deleted soon after it went up, read: “We are RELENTLESS, TOUGH AND INTELLIGENT, and … WE DON’T NEED YOUR PERMISSION! #STARPOWER"

The Vanderbilt football program is, of course, dealing with an ongoing rape case involving players from the Commodores’ 2013 team. Two players were found guilty of rape in January, only to be released in June after a judge declared a mistrial in the case. A new trial is pending with a scheduled start in November. Two others are awaiting trial.

In light of that, a slogan of “We don’t need your permission!” seems ill-advised.

The same Vanderbilt account used to tweet out the promo followed up the deleted tweet with two tweets apologizing, saying it was in no way intended to reference sexual assault:

Athletic director David Williams issued a statement also apologizing for the tweet from Vanderbilt athletics.

"We deeply regret sending it and clearly failed to consider all of its implications before doing so," Williams said.

"The phrase `We don't need your permission' was condensed from a larger statement and intended as a message to motivate our players and fans and to address those who have doubts about the football team's competitiveness this season. A staff member shortened the statement for Twitter, failing to recognize how the abbreviated tweet could be interpreted."

Coach Derek Mason wrote on Twitter himself last month that the Commodores want what some say they can't obtain, finishing with "Sorry...We don't need your permission!"

Even if an honest mistake, Thursday's deleted tweet was incredibly ill-timed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.