After six months of silence, Janay Palmer Rice finally had a chance to sit down and address everything that has happened since Ray Rice knocked her out cold in an Atlantic City elevator earlier this year. Instead of splitting from Rice, she instead married him and has decided to support him, even once that surveillance tape went viral in September. Janay agreed to an interview with Today's Matt Lauer, in the hopes that people might understand how this one horrific instance of domestic violence does not define what her marriage is really like.
Janay repeatedly called Rice's actions "a mistake" and reminded viewers at home that no one is perfect. She also insisted that, aside from this one incident, Rice has never been the least bit violent with her at all. She expressed serious upset at how the Baltimore Ravens organization treated them once it released Rice from his contract and believes that eventually he will be allowed to prove himself again in the NFL.
Lauer also asked about what Rice told NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell when the incident first happened. Goodell has claimed that he never saw the tape until it went viral last September and that he had no idea how violent the altercation actually was. Janay balked at the notion that Rice might have minimized the attack, telling Lauer:
"No. Not in any way. And, you know, I feel like if they wanted to know more details then they would have asked. But there were no further questions. It — it's been consistent with everything that he's been saying since February. I can't say he's telling the truth. You know? I know for a fact that he told — that Ray told the honest truth that he's been telling from February. So — I think they did what they had to do for themselves."
Many have questioned whether or not Goodell had really seen the tape and just tried to bury it so the NFL would not be hit with backlash over Rice's actions. Instead, it has been viewed as shady because it was proven that someone at the NFL's main headquarters did sign for that shocking video.
Do you think Janay is telling the truth regarding her relationship with Rice? What about Goodell: Will her comments put the heat back on him all over again? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.
