Hurley: NFL Releases Sanctimonious Statement On Domestic Violence Victims
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- This country -- and really, the world -- has many problems when it comes to the handling of domestic violence. In many cases, victims feel discouraged to step forward to tell the truth, for fear of repercussions or creating further issues or any indeterminable combination of feelings.
Anybody who has spent so much as five minutes thinking about domestic violence knows this. Yet to the National Football League -- the multi-billion dollar corporation that finds itself in the middle of domestic violence conversations much more often than it should -- this is apparently a new concept.
The league released a statement on Wednesday condemning the NFLPA for leaking information to the media that works to weaken the credibility of the alleged victim in the domestic violence case against Ezekiel Elliott. That included information that showed the alleged victim had texted with a friend about potentially using sex tapes with Elliott to extort money from him. The alleged victim confirmed that these discussions took place, and that she also registered an email address titled "ezekielelliott sex vids."
The NFL responded.
"Over the past few days we've received multiple reports of the NFLPA spreading derogatory information to the media about the victim in Ezekiel Elliott discipline case," the statement read (it was missing the word "the" before "Ezekiel Elliott discipline case"). "It's a common tactic to attempt to prove the innocence of the accused by discrediting the victim ... when coming forward to report such abuse. Common or not, these tactics are shameful. Efforts to shame and blame victims are often what prevent people from coming forward to report violence and/or seek help in the first place."
To be clear, everything said in this statement is true and fair. And frankly, given the way Elliott's camp has painted and continues to paint the alleged victim as a liar, this type of statement and treatment of the issue is desperately needed going forward.
So, again, for clarity, this statement is correct.
But coming from the NFL? Please. It's the equivalent of a convicted felon admonishing citizens for jaywalking. It's like Snoop Dogg advising you to not smoke marijuana, or Conor McGregor promoting pacifism and a life without swears.
It is, quite simply, tone-deaf.
For the NFL to act as a moral beacon on domestic violence is the peak of hypocrisy.
Perhaps, for various reasons, the NFL really does want to change its course with regard to its treatment and understanding of domestic violence. While those reasons would assuredly not be based on basic morality and would instead be tied to marketability and profitability, the end result would nevertheless be a positive progression.
Yet to issue a statement that wags a finger at anyone for mistreating a domestic violence victim? The NFL stands on remarkably shaky ground.
Looking just last year, the wife of former Giants kicker Josh Brown reportedly was made to feel "a very nervous feeling" upon receiving a call from the investigators pursuing the allegations against Brown. The NFL made sure to mention that she did not cooperate with the investigation when trying to explain why it tried to sneak Brown past the mandatory punishment of a six-game suspension.
From the league's statement at the time: "Despite multiple attempts to speak with her about this incident and her previous statements, she declined to speak with us. We understand that there are many reasons that might have affected her decision not to speak with us, but we were limited in our ability to investigate these allegations. ... As a result of these factors, our investigators had insufficient information to corroborate prior allegations."
Let it not be forgotten that a wealth of information had been available to the NFL all along; the Giants admitted after the fact that they had known about Brown abusing his wife. But the league simply saw a lack of cooperation in an investigation to serve as "mitigating factors" in the process.
What you see there is the league placing a portion of the blame on her for their own deceptive practices and their own careless treatment of a significant matter.
Shameful.
This took place, mind you, almost exactly one year ago.
And yet, this instance was not unique.
Back in 2014, after the world had seen Ray Rice nonchalantly dragging the unconscious body of his then-fiancee -- Janay Palmer at the time -- out of an elevator, the NFL decided to interrogate Rice. And when the league invited Rice to NFL headquarters to explain himself, they also invited Janay. She sat in the room, next to Ray, and went over the events of the night she was knocked unconscious.
Having Janay in the same room as the man who punched her in the head during his disciplinary hearing essentially rewrote the definition of poor procedure when it comes to handling such matters. It didn't help that this hearing came just a few weeks after the Ravens had trotted her out on stage to apologize for the role she played in the incident.
And on the topic of NFL hearings, a look inside Greg Hardy's reinstatement hearing showed just how far the league was willing to listen to an accused player smear the reputation of the alleged victim.
"[Hardy's attorney] used the sex lives of ... the principal witness for the state to attack them and their credibility; claimed that [the alleged victim] merely slipped and fell; and suggested that the judge at Hardy's bench trial was uniquely biased against Hardy," Deadspin's Diana Moskovitz outlined. "Those claims received only cursory testing and pushback from the NFL executives and lawyers in the room."
She added: "At no point does anyone, most notably [NFL domestic violence investigator Lisa] Friel, whose job once made her essentially an advocate for domestic violence victims, pressure either [attorney Frank] Maister or Hardy on the broader narrative that Hardy was himself the victim this night."
This is how the NFL has treated domestic violence victims. This is all on the record, and it's all taken place within the past three years.
So yes, the content of that statement issued Wednesday was irrefutable. But the messenger is in no place to say it. Self-righteous pontifications like the one issued on Wednesday can't change what we already know about the NFL.
You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.
