Vice President Joseph R. Biden is applauding the Baltimore Ravens’ decision to fire Ray Rice, saying the team “did the right thing” after video surfaced Monday of the running back punching his wife and knocking her out.
Mr. Biden, who is scheduled Tuesday to deliver a speech marking the 20th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act, described the NFL’s growing outrage at Mr. Rice.
“You know the first reason the NFL responded in my view: There are so many women fans in this billion dollar industry,” Mr. Biden told NBC News. “So all of a sudden they said, ’Wait a minute, he got suspended for a couple games? Whoa, that’s not enough.’ Then, they get a little more sensitized. And then it was longer.”
“And then when the video was out there, and saw how brutal it was, the Ravens did the right thing — fired him immediately,” he said. “Now, you can argue, they should have done it sooner, they didn’t want it. Whatever the reason is, it’s happening.”
The Ravens dropped Mr. Rice and the NFL suspended him indefinitely Monday after the website TMZ posted a video that purported to show running back punching his then-fiancée Janay Palmer in an elevator of an Atlantic City casino.
An earlier video only showed Mr. Rice dragging an unconscious Ms. Palmer out of the elevator, which resulted in the NFL in July suspending him for two games.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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