The NFL has rightfully been taking a lot of heat due to a couple of somewhat recent domestic violence cases. The league has done a very poor job handling some disgusting situations involving some players.
The league initially suspended Ray Rice for 2 games for punching/ knocking out his wife (then his fiance) in Atlantic City back in February. Only after TMZ released a video of the incident did his team the Baltimore Ravens release him and the NFL suspend him indefinitely.
I wondered if any league sponsors would stop advertising with the NFL but haven’t heard much about this.
Now another case turned up, this time with a star player, Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings being charged with one count of injury to a child. Peterson spanked his 4-year-old son with a tree branch causing injuries. That’s all I’ll say about the incident. For more details, check out this ESPN.com article here.
This kind of punishment towards a 4-year-old (or anyone for that matter) sounds pretty harsh and disgusting.
The Vikings deactivated Peterson for this past weekend’s game but he has since been activated and is expected to play this Sunday. The team will let the legal system determine if he went too far. His case is also being reviewed by the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy.
I came across a tweet a couple of days back from Radisson. The tweet included a link to a Carlson News Release.
I was happy to see that the company was stepping up to take a stance against this cruel behavior towards children (or at least take a closer look at what went down).
Here is what the statement said:
“Radisson is suspending its limited sponsorship of the Minnesota Vikings while we evaluate the facts and circumstances.”
Adrian Peterson claims that he was disciplining his son like the way he was as a child. Maybe this is true but I don’t think in 2014 it is acceptable to spank a child with a tree branch.
I guess now its up to the NFL and more importantly the legal system to determine what the punishment will be for Peterson’s alleged crime.
Update:
Since writing this post I found out early this morning that the Minnesota Vikings have changed their mind and have now placed Adrian Peterson on the Exempt/ Commissioners Permission list.
According to the Huffington Post, the team has “essentially deactivated him, and ordered him to keep away from all team activites until the legal proceedings against him have been resolved”. Find out more in the Huff post article here.
I wonder if Radisson’s suspension of their sponsorship had any influence on the Vikings changing their mind…
As an attendee to the Carlson Hotels conferences the past few years, I have heard Marilyn Carlson speak about her views as an active supporter of protecting children’s rights globally. This is a huge statement since I have also heard her speak about her father’s love of the Minnesota Vikings. (Her father founded Carlson Hotels)
Ric- This is great info to hear. It really shows that Carlson didn’t suspend the sponsorship just to look good, they did it due to really caring.
abby- You made some excellent points however I didn’t write this post to branch off into the NFL or get into politics. I wrote it due to a couple of key factors with the main one being Radisson suspending their sponsorship. The other reason is that I have an almost 3 year old son so this hits close to home.
Joseph May- That was exactly how I felt when I saw this news!
Well done Radisson! Thank you for taking the lead on this one.
oh please. if you’re going to branch off into the NFL and commentary on disciplining a child, why not focus on something that is truly disgusting. while the NFL and advertisers make Peterson out to be the devil because he disciplined his kid like he was disciplined and made a mistake as to how the switch was prepped (that is why it drew blood. something he was unaware of as he was spanking him)….
write a story about how the NFL just unveiled a statue of Ray ‘cold case’ Lewis, who remains the prime suspect in a murder. Lewis has paid off his victim’s family, been convicted of obstructing the investigation and has no explanation for how his white clothing he was wearing (when he killed the man) vanished (hint: DNA evidence).
but, he won a super bowl so… pass. btw, you can watch him as an announcer every week. but, yes, let’s worry about a spanking gone wrong that is only in the news because a 15 minutes of fame seeking Texas ______ brought the case to a second grand jury after the first rejected it.
please.