NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is officially on the hot seat.
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The National Football League and Commissioner Goodell have denied ever seeing the video that showed a brutal assault on Janay Palmer by her then fiancee, former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice.
Considering the video showed one of the NFL stars allegedly beating his fiancee, you would imagine the NFL would want the video.
However, a statement from the league said that the first time they saw the video was on Tuesday morning when TMZ released the footage.
The Associated Press and law enforcement officials have a different story.
BREAKING: AP Source: Law enforcement official sent copy of Ray Rice tape to NFL executive in April
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 10, 2014
According to law enforcement, the NFL was sent a tape of the elevator incident back in April, just weeks after the news first broke. Considering what the Associated Press is and it’s track record, this is pretty irrefutable evidence.
Roger Goodell has come under fire since the tape surfaced and many people have been calling for the commissioner to resign — including Keith Olbermann in a brilliant segment on his ESPN show.
After only giving Rice a two-game suspension for the incident, Goodell made good by instituting a new policy in regards to domestic abuse.
The fact of the matter is that his first misstep will not be erased.
Goodell once suspended Terrelle Pryor before he even played an NFL game, for 5 weeks, due to selling memorabilia in college for tattoos. Â He has suspended Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon for an entire season for marijuana use. His stance on Rice beating a woman was less strict.
With the new information suggesting that the NFL had most definitely seen the tape, considering it wasn’t thrown out after law enforcement handed it over, Goodell is going to find himself in a world of hurt. Whether it was a cover up or not, the fact is that Roger Goodell dropped the ball with the situation surrounding Ray and Janay Rice, and he dropped it bad. Over and over again.