In the wake of Deadspin releasing photos showing the abuse inflicted by Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy on his former girlfriend, currently unemployed NFL running back Ray Rice weighed in Sunday on SportsCenter.
Rice, who hasn’t played in the NFL since video footage back in 2014 caught him knocking out his then-fiancée talked with Hannah Storm via a telephone interview.
"It shouldn't take photos to understand the severity of domestic violence," – Ray Rice talks with @HannahStormESPN. https://t.co/QRYCw9MnDk
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 8, 2015
Here’s what the former Ravens running back had to say about Hardy and his situation since the 2014 incident.
“I’ve learned a lot. These types of photos and videos are very tough reminders to domestic violence survivors. It really shouldn’t take photos, you know, or anything to understand the severity of domestic violence that happens every eight seconds as we speak. It does continue to raise awareness. It’s just a tough deal that it takes the visual, the photos, for the severity of it to be known. My deepest condolences go out to the survivors of domestic violence.”
And why he believes he hasn’t been given a second chance in the NFL like the one afforded to Hardy by the Cowboys.
“Well I’m only in a position to speak about myself and my situation, because every situation is different. But I totally understand that the visual … what my visual did and the effect it had on society and the survivors of domestic violence. So for me to never be forgiven, I understand and I take full responsibility for my actions. But one thing I can say is that over this period of time, being around my family, I’m thankful for my wife, I’m thankful for my kid. I made a lifelong decision that I’ll forever be indebted to raising awareness about this because I have a little girl that has to grow up. I used to have a situation where kids were like ‘I wanna be like Ray Rice,’ and now I’m going to have to think about kids or parents now saying ‘I don’t want you to be like Ray Rice.’”
Aside from today’s comments from Rice, Hardy came out Saturday on Twitter expressing his ‘regret’ for what happened.
Just had to say I express my regret 4 what happened in past and I'm Dedicated to being the best person & teammate that I can be
— Greg “The Prince of War” Hardy (@GregHardyJr) November 8, 2015
Like Rice said though, it shouldn’t take photos for the Cowboys and NFL to of taken appropriate action. Just like it shouldn’t have taken a video in Rice’s case.
Bottom line, it continues to look really bad for the NFL when Ray Rice looks like the good guy when dealing with the League’s domestic violence issues.
