2011 was a pivotal year for Jason Momoa thanks to his portrayal of Khal Drogo on “Game of Thrones,” which catapulted him into the big leagues. It could have also easily marked the end of his career, as the actor made some eyebrow-raising comments during a Comic-Con panel that year. Fortuitously for him, the moment went mostly unnoticed — until the footage resurfaced in 2017. In the clip which quickly made the rounds, Momoa quipped, per The Guardian, “As far as sci-fi and fantasy, I love that genre because there are so many things you can do, like rip someone’s tongue out of their throat and get away with it, and rape beautiful women.” Uproar was swift and loud, and the actor took to Instagram to apologize. “I am still severely disappointed in myself at the insensitivity of my remarks that day,” he wrote. “It is unacceptable and I sincerely apologize with a heavy heart for the words I said.”
Interestingly, Momoa made a similar comment, also in 2011, during an interview with the New York Post. When asked what it was like to film the scene in which Drogo forced himself on Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys, he appeared to take the matter as a joke. “Yeah, I’m raping Emilia,” he said. “We could have made it longer, but you get the idea.” As if that wasn’t bad enough, Momoa then tried to turn things around, but only dug himself deeper. “I’m not a rapist!” he assured. “I prefer my women to enjoy sex.”
