The NFL must be more "direct" in the way it handles reports of domestic violence by its players if it wants to hang onto its credibility, in light of the incident involving Baltimore Ravens player Ray Rice, Sen. John Thune told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
"I think the NFL has got to deal with this and confront it in a more direct way than they have so far or they're going to lose the confidence of the American people, no matter how popular the game is, and a lot of young kids that look up to these guys," the South Dakota Republican said Monday. "They've got to fix it."
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The NFL suspended Rice indefinitely on Sept. 8 after a video surfaced that showed him punching Janay Palmer, his fiancée at the time, in an elevator in an Atlantic City casino in February, knocking her unconscious. Rice originally had a two-game suspension, based on video footage that showed him dragging Palmer out of the elevator. The two were married in March.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has maintained he did not see the footage from inside the elevator until Sept. 7, saying the video had not previously been made available to him. Critics have blasted the NFL for having a tolerant attitude regarding domestic violence among its players.
The NFL announced they were launching an investigation into the matter after TMZ founder Harvey Levin reported that the league was previously aware of the video taken from inside the elevator showing the actual punch. Thune said he gave credit to the NFL for conducting the probe, but added it "probably should have been done a long time ago."
The NFL had "individuals who are paid enormously well for what they do," Thune said, adding the league had "a lot of adults who make lots of money behaving badly."
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