Boxer Benjamin Hussain has apologised after making Nathan Cleary the centre of a vile joke about domestic violence and the Blues’ State of Origin series victory on Wednesday night.
The welterweight title contender referred to research showing that reported incidents of domestic violence spike during Origin matches.
The data from La Trobe University found the numbers skyrocket by up to 40 per cent in NSW on game night.
Hussain posted a video to Instagram on Wednesday in which he said Cleary would increase the number of DV incidents even further by leading NSW to victory at Suncorp Stadium.
‘Boys, in Queensland, domestic violence goes up 40 per cent on Origin night – and Nathan Cleary, the chin, is single-handedly going to make it double,’ Hussain said.
‘Hopefully all your dogs and partners are wearing mouthguards when they go to sleep tonight.
Boxer Benjamin Hussain (pictured) made a vile joke on Instagram about Nathan Cleary increasing rates of domestic violence on State of Origin night
Hussain referred to evidence that DV incidents spike during Origin games and said the NSW star (pictured) would double the increase in Queensland by leading the Blues to victory
‘Let’s go, boys, the Blues are on.’
Hussain deleted the clip, but not before it was picked up by the Sherele Moody Femicide Watch account, which shared the vision.
The vile comments were slammed by outraged Aussies.
‘Thinking it is one thing, saying it’s another but sharing it on social media so proudly is really something else. Wow,’ one wrote.
‘I would say unbelievable, but sadly it’s very believable!’ another said.
‘This is shameful,’ added a third.
On Thursday, Hussain posted an apology on Instagram in which he re-ran the offensive clip.
‘Hey guys, I made a video last night that upset a select group of people,’ he said.
Hussain (pictured) deleted the video, but re-posted what he said when he made a public apology on Thursday
The 27-year-old has been a professional fighter since 2020 and has a record of 14 wins, eight by knockout, and two losses
‘I’d like to address the comments I made last night.
‘Obviously I was using dark humour there.
‘I don’t support domestic violence, nor do I support people kicking their dogs.
‘I just got caught up in game three, you know. I didn’t mean to upset people.
‘But one thing I will say is if I told a joke and it didn’t land, I put my hand up, but make sure we save this energy for people who actually did something, not attacking someone on a platform.’
Hussain went on to say he’d received ‘nasty’ messages as a result of the post about Cleary and said people should save their anger for ‘someone who’s convicted’.
The 27-year-old has been fighting professionally since July 2020 and has compiled a record of 14 wins, with eight of those coming by knockout, with two losses, both by knockout.
According to respected boxing website Boxrec, he is due to fight in September for the vacant IBO International super welterweight title.
