So, is this rape?

[Martinus]

So, first a little bit of background to this story - as I mentioned before I listen to a comedy podcast called "Red Bar Radio". It is (mainly) a one man show run by a guy from Chicago and it is mainly him ranting about diverse stuff, in a rather comedic and irreverent way. He also takes delight in "fucking with people", especially D-list celebrities and the like, but also covering big scandal stories (such as the recent Bill Cosby stuff). So a lot of what he does is rather comedic - in a sense his humour is the darker side of Languish humour (or something like somethingawful). You could say he is a very succesful and amusing troll.

He also listens to a lot of comedy-related podcasts and gets a lot of his material from there. What follows is a story he brought up recently - and now, I have never heard of any of the people involved before, but people who are interested in the US comedy scene, like CdM, may have.

So, there is apparently this comedian, who is relatively famous, named Carlos Mencia. He used to be touring with another comedian, Brad Williams, who happens to be a midget. Now, Brad Williams was on another podcast and was asked to tell the craziest story from the time he was touring with Mencia. He told this story - on one tour stop there was this fan girl who wanted to have sex with Mencia, so much she actually gave the bus driver a blow job to get into the tour bus. Mencia did not want to have sex with her  (hewas married at the time), so he played a little "prank" on her. They turned off the lights in one of the rooms and told her that Mencia is there - but instead it was the midget, Brad Williams. They started fucking and only after several minutes she realised something was wrong, turned the lights on, saw it was Williams and ran away horrified. And they all laughed and laughed.

So the Red Bar Radio guy went "wait a minute, isn't that essentially rape"? And now has been swamped with hate mail from Brad Williams' fans (which he enjoys). So what do you think? Rape or not rape?

[Martinus]

For the record, I think it is rape.

[Lettow77]

 It doesn't sound like a lady whose virtue is something to be concerned with, and no violence was done to her. Non-issue.

[celedhring]

From what I remember of his TV show, you're fortunate to not know who Carlos Mencia is, Marti.

There wasn't any coercion in this - she was mislead - but it surely is non-consensual; she gave consent to having sex with a certain person, and this agreement was broken. So rape.

Here I am, trying to speak legalese in a forum flooded with lawyers.

[Tonitrus]

Yes, but by American legal standards, probably 3rd degree, maybe 2nd degree rape.

By my standards, I'd still have them tried and executed for being high-level assholes.

[Martinus]

Fun fact - the Red Bar Radio guy spurred his listeners into a tweeter war against the midget comedian and managed to get the midget's number by masquerading as his manager (this is the kind of shit he does) and talked to him on the phone on the show - so the midget is now claiming that was all a joke he made up (although it did not sound like a joke on the other podcast). More funny, the original podcast where he said the story was first pulled down (it was a show "Getting Doug with High"), then reuploaded with the rape story edited out of it, then they disabled the comments after all Red Bar Radio listeners started asking about it; and then the entire episode was pulled down again, this time for good. Also, the fact that the midget is now claiming it was a joke does not prevent his fans from sending hate mail to Red Bar Radio, saying it was not rape, as the chick was a slut and she consented to sex with *someone* anyway (I guess they didn't get the memo it was a joke).

The Red Bar Radio guy finds all of this hillarious.

[Monoriu]

I consider it rape.  I have heard of an offence in HK called something like "having sex with someone under false pretence" or some such.  Even if it doesn't fit the technical definition of rape, there should be another way to prosecute these guys. 

[Martinus]

I consider it rape.  I have heard of an offence in HK called something like "having sex with someone under false pretence" or some such.  Even if it doesn't fit the technical definition of rape, there should be another way to prosecute these guys.

I mean, to me it is no different than a chick consenting to having sex with a guy - and then getting railroaded by his gang bang buddies (assuming no physical coercion is present).

That being said, a situation where a blindfolded guy is being sucked off by a cute girl only for her to be replaced by another dude is a premise of many amateur gay porn. 

[Eddie Teach]

Caveat emptor.

If she's willing to have sex with someone without speaking to or seeing them beforehand, it could happen with a guy who wasn't in on the bait and switch.

As for whether it's rape, I think you'd need to establish that Williams impersonated Mencia somehow. Some third guy telling her it was Mencia in the room isn't enough to qualify IMO.

[Capetan Mihali]

something like "having sex with someone under false pretence" or some such.

Like turning out to actually be Palestinian.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Like having sex with someone who is pretending to be interesting but is actually boring.......which makes 90% of sex rape 

[Capetan Mihali]

The mind of Mencia has certainly wrought some awful things in our time.

[Norgy]

Rapish, yes.

[Martinus]

Like having sex with someone who is pretending to be interesting but is actually boring.......which makes 90% of sex rape 

I don't think this is a valid comparison, to be honest...

[dps]

"Rape" has traditionally been defined as the use of force or the threat of force to obtain sex.  Clearly that doesn't apply here.  Calling something like this "rape", I think, is kind of an insult to anyone who has been forcibly raped.

Legally, whether or not it's rape depends on the jurisdiction.  It would almost certainly meet the legal definition of sexual assault in any US state, but not necessarily rape.