A guest host on Fox News on Tuesday managed to use the country's ongoing conversation about domestic violence in the NFL to advance his own view about stiff punishments for antigay hate crimes.
Sitting in as the guest host on Fox News' women-dominated commentary show Outnumbered, Bernie McGuirk speculated that former Baltimore Raven Ray Rice would have received a harsher -- or at least more swift -- punishment if he had assaulted a gay man or a white woman, rather than a woman of color, Mediaite summarizes.
Rice initially received a two-game suspension for the February incident, then was indefinitely suspended from the league after TMZ released video showing Rice knocking his then-fiancee, Janay Palmer, unconscious before dragging her body outside an Atlantic City casino elevator.
Stressing that he believes Janay Rice is being doubly victimized "because her well-being is dependent on [Ray Rice's] well-being," McGuirk nevertheless claimed that Rice's punishment highlights a double-standard when it comes to how the NFL handles violence compared to drug offenses and antigay statements.
"The NFL, they'll suspend you for pot a half a year," McGuirk said. "The Dolphins guy [Don Jones] was suspended for expressing his opinion on the [Michael Sam] gay kiss. He was sent to re-indoctrination camp. He was fined. I mean, if he had punched a gay guy in an elevator, this Ray Rice, he probably would have been charged with a hate crime. He wouldn't have been in the NFL anymore."
Watch the exchange below: