Right-Wing Media Blames Ray Rice's Victim

Written by Olivia Marshall & Lis Power

Published

Following the release of a new video showing NFL player Ray Rice knocking his then-fiancee Janay Palmer unconscious, many in the right-wing media responded by blaming the victim, focusing on the fact that the two wed after the incident.

Video Emerges Of Baltimore Ravens Player Ray Rice Knocking Then-Fiancee Unconscious

Ray Rice Cut From Ravens After Violent Video Emerges. Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was released from the team after a video was released by TMZ showing him knocking his then-fiancee Janay Palmer unconscious in an elevator:

Running back Ray Rice was released by the Baltimore Ravens and suspended indefinitely by the NFL on Monday, the same day a shocking video surfaced showing the NFL star knocking out his future wife with a punch in February.

[...]

The new video shows Rice punching Janay Palmer, who was his fiancee at the time, inside an elevator at a hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, seven months ago.

TMZ Sports posted the video Monday showing Rice and Palmer entering an elevator. Inside the elevator, Rice punches Palmer. Palmer lunges after Rice, and then Rice hits her again and she falls to the floor. [CNN, 9/8/14]

Right-Wing Media Immediately Blames The Victim

Fox Contributor Ben Carson: Rice And Wife Both Need Help Because “She Subsequently Married Him.” On NewsMax TV, Ben Carson, a Fox News contributor, implied Rice's wife was partly to blame for her abuse, saying she also “need[s] some help” for marrying Rice after the attack:

“I'm hopeful they will get some help for him,” Carson said, after being asked whether he agreed with the moves today by the team and the league. “I mean, obviously anyone who would do something like that needs some help.”

“And let's not all jump on the bandwagon of demonizing this guy,” Carson continued. “He obviously has some real problems, and his wife obviously knows that, because she subsequently married him. So they both need some help. So rather than just jumping on a punitive bandwagon, let's just see if we can get some help for these people.” [Mediaite, 9/8/14]

Fox & Friends: Rice's Wife Marrying Him Is Like Rihanna Staying With Chris Brown, “Terrible Message.” On the September 8 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, hosts Steve Doocy, Anna Kooiman, and Brian Kilmeade condemned Rice but pointed out that Palmer married the athlete after the incident and compared it to Chris Brown's beating of Rihanna, saying that was a “terrible message”:

DOOCY: We should also point out after that video -- and now you know what happened in there -- she still married him. They're currently married.

KILMEADE: I mean, look at Rihanna went back to --

KOOIMAN: Chris Brown.

KILMEADE: -- Yeah, Chris Brown right after and a lot of people thought that was a terrible message. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 9/8/14]

Rush Limbaugh: Janay Palmer “Did Follow Through, And She Did Marry The Guy Who Knocked Her Out.” On his September 8 radio show, Limbaugh continuously brought up the fact that Janay Palmer married Ray Rice after the incident.

LIMBAUGH: Now the obvious question behind the question. Why did she marry the guy, right? If she got decked like that.

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So you ask why did she marry him? You know she went out, they had this joint appearance. She apologized too at his apology presser. What did she apologize for? For getting beat up? Nobody can figure that out. So chomp on that. She did follow through and she did marry the guy who knocked her out in the elevator at Atlantic City. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 9/8/14]

CNN Contributor Ana Navarro: Women Like Rice's Wife “Need To Love And Respect” Themselves. Ana Navarro, a conservativepolitical contributor to CNN and ABC, expressed shock that Rice's wife married him after he beat her, saying that while Rice is “disgusting,” women need to “love & respect” themselves:

[Twitter, 9/8/14]