Ray Rice spoke to media members for the first time since the National Football League announced that he would be suspended for two games for his actions in an Atlantic City casino video that appeared to show him dragging his then-fiancée, Janay Palmer, out of an elevator unconscious.
“My actions that night were totally inexcusable,” says the Baltimore Ravens player, taking full responsibility for his misdeeds that day. “I was raised by a single mother,” Rice exclaimed, and referring to his mother, said, “I let her down. I let my wife down … I let my daughter down.”
Rice also had some strong words when he spoke about his 2-year-old daughter and the criticism he knows he will potentially face from her in the future. “One day she is going to know the power of Google. And we have to explain that to her,” he said of him and his wife inevitably needing to explain the events of that night to her when she is older.
Rice continued to accept responsibility for his actions, explaining that it is “something I have to live with for the rest of my life.” The running back from New York who once had a squeaky-clean image implored, “I know that’s not who I am as a man” and also added, “I made the biggest mistake of my life.”
Unfortunately for the couple, they have become the public face of domestic violence in this country, but they may be prepared for it. “We will go out there an help as many people as we can and speak about domestic violence,” said Rice.
For some, two games wasn’t enough punishment for Rice’s actions, but ultimately, whether he was suspended two, four, or eight games, he needs to look at himself in the mirror and make sure that he is never again guilty of physically abusing his wife or any other woman.
