A California Marine is being probed for social media comments blaming underage sexual assault victims for male misconduct – saying that biologically men are “designed to act that way,” Marine Training Command said over the weekend.
During a Jan. 10 Facebook discussion about the Lifetime documentary “Surviving R. Kelly”, which claims the musician married and impregnated Aliyah at just 15 years old, Gunnery Sgt. Nicolas Russo said the underaged singer was to blame for the relationship, Task & Purpose reported.
“Wow…let’s place all the blame on a man who is biologically designed to act that way … and not the woman who wanted to do it,” Russo wrote. “And I do believe she was 16.”
“Quite frankly if she pursues it then let her,” Russo added. “Stop prosecuting adults when this happens. Now if an adult is pursuing then that’s a different story.”
Russo was listed as an active-duty Marine Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training in San Diego, Marine Training Command told Task & Purpose on Sunday.
“We are currently looking into this matter regarding alleged social media misconduct,” Command said in a statement.
“The Marine Corps takes every allegation of social media misconduct seriously and does not condone any behavior that does not align with our core values. No additional information is available at this time.”
A representative from the Office of U.S. Marine Corps Communication was not immediately available for comment. Phone calls to a number listed in Russo’s name were unanswered.
Russo wasn’t the first Marine to blame underage women for the actions of male perpetrators, according to former Marine Sgt. Erin Kirk-Cuomo.
“During our work to combat assault and harassment in the military we are consistently struggling with senior enlisted Marines,” Kirk-Cuomo told Task & Purpose.
“The R. Kelly documentary has served as an uncovering of many Marines beliefs towards the victims of assault and harassment: Blaming victims for their own assault. It’s frustrating to see this openly in the Corps and from leaders who are responsible to support other Marines who have been assaulted or harassed. It is even more upsetting to see this from a gunnery sergeant who is responsible for the safety and training of young Marines. The Marines engaging in the perpetuation of victim shaming and blaming have NO place in our Corps and are not Marines,” she added.
Kirk-Cuomo is the co-founder of the group “Not In My Marine Corps,” which was founded in 2018 after hundreds or Marines reportedly shared nude photos of female service members in a Facebook group called Marines United 3.0.
