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" Serena Williams has issued a statement on her website clarifying her comments in a recent interview about the rape of a teenager in Steubenville. When news of the rape flashed on the TV, the tennis star was quoted by Rolling Stone as questioning the juvenile detention sentences for the two convicted 16-year-olds.  &amp;quot;Do you think it was fair, what they got? They did something stupid, but I don&amp;#039;t know,&amp;quot; Williams said. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m not blaming the girl, but if you&amp;#039;re a 16-year-old and you&amp;#039;re drunk like that, your parents should teach you - don&amp;#039;t take drinks from other people.&amp;quot; She continued: &amp;quot;She&amp;#039;s 16, why was she that drunk where she doesn&amp;#039;t remember? It could have been much worse. She&amp;#039;s lucky. &amp;quot;Obviously, I don&amp;#039;t know, maybe she wasn&amp;#039;t a virgin, but she shouldn&amp;#039;t have put herself in that position, unless they slipped her something, then that&amp;#039;s different.&amp;quot;  In a statement on her personal website following publication of the article, Williams said: &amp;quot;What happened in Steubenville was a real shock for me. I was deeply saddened. &amp;quot;For someone to be raped, and at only 16, is such a horrible tragedy! For both families involved - that of the rape victim and of the accused.&amp;quot; She continued: &amp;quot;I am currently reaching out to the girl&amp;#039;s family to let her know that I am deeply sorry for what was written in the Rolling Stone article. &amp;quot;What was written - what I supposedly said - is insensitive and hurtful, and I by no means would say or insinuate that she was at all to blame.&amp;quot; Williams added: &amp;quot;I have fought all of my career for women&amp;#039;s equality, women&amp;#039;s equal rights, respect in their fields - anything I could do to support women I have done. &amp;quot;My prayers and support always goes out to the rape victim. In this case, most especially, to an innocent 16-year-old child.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/news/a491511/serena-williams-deeply-sorry-for-steubenville-rape-comments/>