Last February, Janay Palmer was knocked unconscious in the elevator of an Atlantic City, N.J., hotel by her then-fiance Ray Rice. The video was brutal, and as a result, Ray Rice was released from the Baltimore Ravens and suspended indefinitely from the NFL, before he later appealed and the suspension was lifted. Six weeks after the video was released, Palmer and Rice were married.
Fast-forward over a year later, and Ray Rice is on a redemption spree, attempting to convince people that he’s a changed man. I guess in order to get his job back, it’s what he must do. And he’s bringing his now-wife, Janay, along for the ride.
In an interview with ESPN’s Outside the Lines, Janay Rice indicates that she clearly believes that her husband isn’t a woman beater.
These sentiments aren’t that shocking coming from a woman who was battered by a man. Oftentimes, battered women will make any excuse to forgive the person who battered them.
Janay Rice says she gets pissed off when people refer to Ray as a woman beater. “I get angry about it because it’s the furthest things from the truth,” she stated.
Janay Rice also stated that the elevator incident captured on video was the first time he laid hands on her. “It has never happened before, and that’s not him. He’s been made out to be this monster, and he’s not a wife beater. He’s someone who made a mistake. He’s human,” she asserted. Well, technically, he wasn’t a wife beater at the time, since they were only engaged. So let’s just call him a fiancee beater?
During Ray Rice’s interview with ESPN, he said that he’s now rehabilitated and wants a second chance. And Janay Rice pretty much said the same thing.
“I’m not taking the light off of anything that he did. He’s human, and he has done everything he’s supposed to do to redeem himself. So it kind of makes me quite mad,” Janay Rice said.
A lot of people tend to think if she’s OK with him beating her and accepted his apology, then so be it. But for all intents and purposes, if you’re a man and you beat a woman, that technically makes you a woman beater. And the same goes for women who beat men—you’re a man beater. There’s no way around that.
Domestic violence is never anything to make light of, though in some people’s eyes it’s definitely something that just goes away after you’re “rehabilitated.” Ray Rice will undoubtedly wear the scarlet letter of being a woman beater for the rest of his life. And sure, his wife can forgive him. And they can both scream to the rafters about how he’s a changed man, but many people will not easily forget that video of him knocking her out, kicking her body and then dragging her out of an elevator.
At this point, Ray Rice’s career lies in the hands of whatever NFL team wants to give him another shot. Maybe his and Janay Rice’s cries of redemption will work in their favor?