Ravens running back Ray Rice and his wife, Janay Palmer, held a press conference today to address for the first time Rice’s aggravated assault charges after he knocked Parker out at a New Jersey Casino in February. The aftermath of the alleged assault was caught in a leaked TMZ video, which showed Rice dragging Parker’s unconscious body out of an elevator (see above). Rice entered a pre-trial diversion program
If the idea was for Rice to try and rehabilitate his image with the traditional Friday afternoon news dump, then he and the Ravens failed miserably. (You can watch the full presser here if you can stomach it.)
Rice apologized to the team owner, the GM, fans “and everyone affected by this situation that me and my wife were in.” He did not apologize to Parker, the woman he dragged out of that elevator. Instead, Rice cast himself as a victim while using a boxing analogy about “getting knocked down.” Ugh.
To be fair, Rice did thank his wife for "loving me when I was weak and building me when I was strong." That might be touching if not for the fact he said this in a press conference after knocking his wife unconscious and still not publicly apologizing for it.
Parker spoke, too, and she apologized for “the role I played in the incident that night.” What role is that? Crime victim?
It’s sad that this has become a common scene when a high-profile man is accused of violence against his wife or girlfriend. You’ve got Rice not apologizing for the actual deed while using mealy-mouthed passive voice talk about “this situation that me and my wife were in.” You’ve got Parker sitting by Rice’s side, playing the good celebrity wife and spinning BS for PR and implying she might have deserved the beating.
And of course there is the usual stuff about how something good might have come out of this, after all. Rice vows he is going to be a better husband and father. Rice says the couple "are better lovers" because, naturally, knocking out a spouse tends to spice things up. Not only do husband and wife both apparently believe she deserved the beating because Palmer provoked him but it all works out in the end because it was better for the relationship.
Guess this all shouldn't be too surprising considering the couple got married on the day after he was indicted on aggravated assault charges, moving up what was to be a summer wedding. Also consider that Rice's attorney initially brushed off the incident as a "minor physical altercation" until that TMZ video came out, and Palmer didn't want Rice to be prosecuted.
There was one new, incredible twist to the usual celebrity domestic violence script: the Ravens’ official Twitter account thought it was a good idea to live tweet the whole thing (see below).
If there is any justice in the world, the Ravens will lose every game next season in increasingly excruciating and humiliating ways and involving Ray Rice.
Ray Rice: "I won't call myself a failure. Failure is not getting knocked down. It's not getting up."
Janay Rice says she deeply regrets the role that she played the night of the incident.
It's like the @Ravens sat down and tried to be as offensive as possible. "Let's have the victim apologize." "Let's use boxing analogies."
Someone tell @ESPNNFL that Ray Rice didn't have an "incident" with his wife. He knocked her unconscious. That is called an "assault"
The #Ravens social media group would have better served to only Tweet a link to hear Rice presser rather than live Tweet it.
