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A video that appears to show Baltimore Ravens player Ray Rice punching his then-fiancée and dragging her unconscious body out of an elevator led to the running back’s contract being terminated.
Rice allegedly knocked out his now-wife Janay Rice in February.
WATCH: Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh discusses how viewing the video changed the team’s outlook on Rice and led to the decision to cut him.
The team and the league were certainly aware of the accusation the 27-year-old player assaulted Janay Rice — he was charged with aggravated assault in March — but took no action until TMZ released the security camera footage on Monday.
Football players and fans took to their Twitter accounts to express their shock at what was seen in the video and how the Baltimore Ravens and the NFL reacted to the incident.
Ray Rice didn’t have to resign in the end: the Ravens terminated his contract with the team Monday afternoon and the NFL suspended him indefinitely.
Reaction to what happened in the video was for the most part outrageous, but there was also anger directed at the fact Ray Rice’s termination came after the clip was made public. Twitter users suggested the punishment wasn’t because he appears to have slugged his wife, but because of the bad press it created for the team.
The NFL were also chided for having come down hard on players who smoked marijuana, but dragged their feet on punishing the 27-year-old running back.
Back in May, the Baltimore Ravens addressed the assault, tweeting Janay Rice’s “regret” about the incident, after the couple’s joint press conference.
That post has come back to haunt the team.
Tweets from Ray Rice’s supporters, pointed the blame at TMZ and the Ravens, for giving into public criticism.
There was also backlash over the reporting of the Ray Rice video and the discussion over its release.
After sharing social media reaction to the assault and referencing an incident involving rapper Jay-Z and singer Solange Knowles, the sister of his wife Beyonce Knowles, Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade quipped, “I think the message is take the stairs.”
Kilmeade and co-host Steve Doocy also noted that the Rices married following the assault — reportedly the day after he was indicted for aggravated assault. They discussed the marriage in comparison to singer Rhianna, who rekindled her relationship with singer Chris Brown after he assaulted her before in 2009.
“A lot of people thought that was a terrible message,” Kilmeade said.
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