On Monday morning, TMZ reignited the awful story of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice’s horrendous beating of his then-fiancée—by releasing the video of the assault. Many are calling for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to reverse the league’s weak punishment of a two-game suspension. There have also been calls for Rice’s arrest and for Goodell’s resignation.
However, because this is the Internet, there are also Ray Rice defenders oh-so-bravely making their case for why Rice shouldn’t be punished any further. Some of the arguments are laughable, others profoundly troubling, and still others are almost too unbelievable to be real. In the interest of rational debate, we present these tweets from Ray Rice supporters as an example of how not to respond to documented evidence of physical assault.
She’s as “guilty as he is”
Everybody talking bout what they should to Ray Rice nobody mention doing nothing to his wife tho she guilty as he is
— Jay (@504VillaReal) September 8, 2014
“What women will do for money”
@TMZ AND SHE marries him after getting knocked out LIKE THAT?! What women will do for money. #RayRice
— OLIVIA FOX (@Oliviafoxradio) September 8, 2014
“Maybe she like it”
People ain’t gone speak on the fact that he knocked her out BUT she STILL married him a weak later, maybe she like it #RayRice
— Michael (@Mike_Hunk) September 8, 2014
“She hit him first”
Lightskin girls just dramatic. Ray rice innocent she hit him first too
— Dominicano (@INcrowd_Esco) September 8, 2014
“His chick came at him too”
People are going to talk about Ray Rice all day but aren’t going to look at the fact his chick came at him too. She not completely innocent
— CP (@carlcp4) September 8, 2014
“She got knocked out when she hit the elevator”
Ray rice was innocent. She got knocked out when she hit the elevator not when he hit her?
— Jack McGlade (@JackFrost___) September 8, 2014
“Second chances are important”
.@ron_fournier ?? It’s bad but that goes a bit far. Second chances are important.
— Dostoevsky’s Shade (@DostoevskyShade) September 8, 2014
Getting right to the ridiculous point
I think Ray Rice is innocent.
— Jeff (@JEFFdaJunka) September 8, 2014
Hypocrisy! But not really.
The ones who cried about invasion of privacy over celebrity nudes will be the EXACT same ones who lead the charge against Ray Rice
— Jam.Lx (@jam_lx) September 8, 2014
Special bonus entry: Fox and Friends, no. Just no.
• • •
The moral of the story is this: Don’t be an idiot. Any form of assault is wrong. Ray Rice isn’t being held to an unfairly high standard. He should be held to a normal human standard. If NFL football players can’t be expected to meet that standard, what does that say about the NFL?
Janay Rice says she deeply regrets the role that she played the night of the incident.
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) May 23, 2014
Update: The Ravens ended Rice’s contract Monday afternoon, the team announced on Twitter.
Photo via Keith Allison/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
