Cris Carter, former player for the Minnesota Vikings, NFL Hall of Famer, and current ESPN football analyst, exhibited an extremely emotional reaction to the Adrian Peterson child abuse scandal on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown .
Carter said he is proud of his team for deactivating Adrian Peterson in the wake of the scandal.
“This goes across all racial lines, ethnicities, religious backgrounds… they really believe in disciplining their children. People with any type of Christian background, they really believe in disciplining their children. My mom did the best job she could do, raising seven kids by herself. But there are thousands of things I have learned since then that my mom was wrong [about]. This is the twenty-first century. My mom was wrong. She did the best she could, but she was wrong about some of that stuff she taught me. And I promise my kids I won’t teach that mess to them.”
Cris Carter was speaking in response to Adrian Peterson’s lawyer’s statement about the indictment, according to ESPN 1420 .
“Adrian is a loving father who used his judgement as a parent to discipline his own son. He used the same kind of discipline with his child that he experienced as a child growing up in east Texas.”
That “discipline” included breaking a switch from a tree limb and striking his 4-year-old child several times and stuffing his mouth with leaves. This occurred last summer while the child was visiting Peterson in Texas. When the child returned to his mother after the trip — a week later — the mother saw the injuries and photographed them. Peterson’s son had cuts and bruises on his buttocks, scrotum, ankles, legs, and hands. It has been determined that the injuries to the boy’s hands were defensive wounds.
Cris Carter grew more intense as he spoke about child abuse.
“You can’t beat a kid to make them do what you want them to. Thousands of things we have learned since then. And now we’re to the point… the only thing I’m proud about, is the team that I played for, they did the right thing. Take him off the field! I don’t care, we’re in a climate right now… I don’t care what it is. Take him off the dang-on field! Because you know what, as a man, that’s the only thing we really respect. We don’t respect no women. We don’t respect no kids. The only thing Roger and them do is take them off the field! Because they respect that.
Cris Carter clearly wasn’t only speaking of the Adrian Peterson child abuse charges — he was also referencing the video released last week of NFL player Ray Rice punching his girlfriend. The “Roger” Carter speaks of is Roger Goodell , the NFL’s commissioner, who came under fire when he only suspended Rice for two games until the elevator footage of Rice punching and knocking out his girlfriend hit the internet , according to CNN.
Here’s the video of Cris Carter speaking out on abuse against women and children.
The Minnesota Vikings deactivated Adrian Peterson for the course of the investigation. The Vikings lost their game yesterday to the New England Patriots, 30-7.
[image via ESPN ]
