On Monday, Drew Magary wrote an article for GQ criticizing the NFL for dragging their feet investigating Ezekiel Elliott’s alleged incident with his ex-Girlfriend this past summer. For those who know me personally, know that Magary is my spirit animal. His writing style alone is one of the greater inspirations that led us to build The Bench Wire. It pains me to say, however, that Drew Magary needs to, very much, shut the fuck up.
To provide context to Magary’s article, let’s review the timeline of events that led to the NFL investigating Ezekiel Elliott in the first place.
Back in July, Tiffany Thompson, Elliott’s ex-girlfriend, posted a series of photos on her personal Instagram account showing bruises on her arms and neck claiming to have been caused by Elliott.
In her post she wrote:
Just for every women (sic) out there getting abused it’s time to put a stop to it. This has been happening to me for months and it finally got out of control to where I was picked up and thrown across the room by my arms. Thrown into walls. Being choked to where I have to gasp for breath. Bruised everywhere, mentally and physically abused. It’s not okay. So I want each and everyone one (sic) of you girls to step away now from domestic violence. You’re worth so much more. I got told it was called “tough love” I’m sorry if you love someone you don’t touch your loved ones. #stopdomesticviolence @ezekielelliott
That same day, Thompson filed 2 police reports with the Columbus (Ohio) Police Department naming Elliott the suspect of two separate assaults.
319027155 Ezekiel Elliott by The Bench Wire on Scribd
The first report detailed assaults between Saturday and Wednesday, however due to conflicting stories between Elliott and Thompson, Thompson was referred to the Columbus Prosecutor’s Office.
The second report details another assault while Thompson was in a parked vehicle. Again, Elliott was not arrested and Thompson was again referred to the Prosecutor’s Office for further investigation.
In September, after reviewing new evidence and other testimony that was later made public, the Columbus Prosecutor’s Office decided not to charge Elliott with any crime and released the following statement.
Subsequently, after the statement was released, the Prosecutor’s office released text message screenshots and witness testimony that showed that Thompson both forced narrative to other witnesses and asked witnesses to lie to the police. Couple this with Elliott’s claim of saving text messages (though never made public) to which he alleges she tells him that she will “end (his) career” and it really should have brought an end to the whole debacle.
It didn’t.
As of today, the NFL is still conducting an investigation into an abyss in the name of saving face after the Ray Rice and Josh Brown incidents, making both Elliot AND the NFL look worse in the process. Why would the NFL still continue to investigate what a police department and a prosecutor’s office have already investigated? Because suddenly, sports writers have, ad nauseum, expected the NFL, a private league owned by 31 separate owners (and 1 completely delusional fan-base) to act as a public entity and act for the public, moral good, when, in fact, the NFL gives zero-0-zero fucks about morality.
We’re talking about the same league that openly curbs CTE research, expects tax-payers to subsidize billions of tax dollars to build gargantuan stadiums, waves the American flag before every game and pockets money for paid patriotism, only donates 8% of total sales of breast cancer ‘Pink’ merchandise, and brought back a player who spent 21 months in prison for running a deadly dog-fighting ring. So again, I ask, why in the fuck are we asking them to care about domestic violence?
I’ve made abundantly it clear in the past that men who hit women are giant pieces of shit who, if found guilty by our court system, should be punished to the fullest extent of the law; but that doesn’t at all mean that the NFL should take the place of either our court system or our moral compass.
It’s a fucking football league, not a charity. We should stop expecting them to do the “right thing” and just let them produce an entertaining product. We don’t need a God-damn ethics lesson when 300 lb. monsters are hitting the life out of each other at full speed.
So Drew, just this one time, shut the fuck up. =)
