Knight: Rape Remarks Misinterpreted

Indiana University basketball Coach Bob Knight, who told NBC’s Connie Chung, “I think that if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it,” has said his remarks were misinterpreted.

Knight, in an interview televised Monday night, added: “That’s just an old term that you’re going to use. The plane’s down, so you have no control over it. I’m not talking about the act of rape. Don’t misinterpret me. But what I’m talking about is something happens to you, so you have to handle it--now.”

In a subsequent interview with the Bloomington (Ind.) Herald-Telephone, Knight said: “Anybody who knows me would be quick to say I would be one of the last person to adopt a careless attitude about rape . . . or any form of crime.

“The word rape can be used in several ways. One is in something that has gone out of control or over which you have no control. It obviously was in that context that I was using the word, as I explained in the interview.”

University President Thomas Ehrlich said that he deplored Knight’s reference to rape in the interview with Chung.

Two law students at the Bloomington campus, Susan Thomas and Sara D. Mowell, said they were planning a “Give Back the Knight” march Sunday to protest the coach’s remarks.