Eagles

Here’s Roger Goodell’s Most Ridiculous Excuse for Allegedly Not Watching the Tape

By Kyle Scott

Published: Sep 11th, 2014 · 4:09 PM EDT

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From the Wall Street Journal:

National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell didn’t pursue the Ray Rice domestic-violence incident as vigorously as he might have out of respect for Rice’s now-wife, Janay, according to one NFL owner.

In conversations about the Rice case over the summer, the owner said, Goodell privately told other owners that during his investigation, in a meeting with the Rices in June, Janay Rice said she had struck her then-fiancée and that she believed she was partly at fault for the incident. Goodell also said he left the meeting believing that Janay Rice had become unconscious because she had fallen during the scuffle.

After Goodell suspended Rice for two games in July, this person said, Goodell told several NFL owners that he felt it would have been insensitive to question Janay Rice’s story because it would have come across as an indictment of her character. Two people familiar with the commissioner’s thinking, including the owner, said they believe the thoroughness of the investigation, and Goodell’s decision to suspend Rice for two games, both reflected Goodell’s discomfort with challenging Janay Rice’s story.

Wait, so Roger Goodell didn’t want to investigate the beating of a beaten woman out of respect for the beaten woman who said the beating was partly her fault, a classic sign that a woman’s been beaten repeatedly? Whoa. That doublespeak is bendy enough to cause an inception inside of a black hole filled with the rage of women’s groups nationwide. There’s a 90% chance this story was a plant, and the PR person responsible for it should be very fired.