Getty Images Kareem Hunt during his short tenure with the Chiefs
By now, you have probably heard about the crazy NFL incident that has taken place over the last 24 hours. Last week, it was Reuben Foster who was cut from his team for a domestic violence incident. This week, it’s Kansas City Chiefs star running back, Kareem Hunt. To make a long story short – Hunt had an incident from back in February where he was spotted on security footage in a physical altercation with a woman.
While police did get involved at the time, and the Chiefs were made aware of the situation, Hunt did not deal with any punishment. That was until the video was obtained and released by TMZ Sports. On Friday afternoon, all hell broke loose in Kansas City as the security footage officially made its way onto the internet. The NFL and the Chiefs have claimed that they could not get their hands on the video beforehand, but TMZ made it happen months later.
After the video made its rounds on the internet, the Chiefs were quick to dismiss Hunt from practice on Friday. Nobody knew what to expect, but Hunt was placed on the commissioner’s exempt list, and soon would be released by the Chiefs, which shocked many folks. Being that the Chiefs are well on their way to locking in a top-seeded playoff position, the loss of Hunt has definitely hurt their chances of making a Super Bowl run this season.
The Chiefs Issue a Statement
Statement from the Kansas City Chiefs on Kareem Hunt
Although the Chiefs were made aware of the incident when it happened, all the team had was Hunt’s word. But once the video was exposed, the Chiefs came to the realization that the star running back has lied to the team. Therefore, they are erasing any chance at a future with Hunt on the team. Before being released ahead of Week 13, Hunt was a top-five rushing leader with 824 yards and seven touchdowns.
To say that a handful of Chiefs fans/ Kareem Hunt fantasy owners were upset would be an understatement. All throughout the day on Friday and Saturday, the initial source TMZ Sports has received an unfavorable amount of hate mail coming from fans, lashing out on the website for ‘ruining’ Hunt’s career.
Some were accusing TMZ Sports of being Tom Brady fans (the loss of Hunt is a good thing for the New England Patriots), and others were upset that one of their top fantasy football contributors became no longer useful for the rest of the season. Here’s what TMZ Sports had to say in response to the angry mob filling up their inbox.
TMZ Sports Responds to the Hate Mail
Minutes after the Kansas City Chiefs made the decision to release Hunt … we were flooded with emails calling us a**holes, pieces of s**t, blatant supporters of Tom Brady and many other not-so-pleasant things. We pulled together some of the spicier responses here — including one guy who broke up with his GF over the story.
For the record, TMZ Sports is covering Kareem Hunt because there’s video of him — a very famous NFL star — striking a woman. A woman who went to police to report the assault. As we’ve reported, the case appears to be in limbo — the Cleveland City Prosecutor is giving us a “no comment.”
As for Hunt’s on-field punishment? There’d been none until we published the video, and the Chiefs say he lied to them about the incident. Point is … the story’s about something other than struggling fantasy football teams. Just sayin’.
It’s unfortunate, but the backlash from posting the video doesn’t really surprise many football fans. For years now, the value of players has played more of an essential role to average NFL fans. While there are a ton of people out there, who are applauding the Chiefs for releasing one of their top players after coming to the realization that he lied – there’s still an angry mob of fans who couldn’t care less what Kareem Hunt did off of the field.
Will Hunt find himself on another team? Anything can happen. After all, Reuben Foster was acquired by the Washington Redskins just days after his incident without the team even making a single call to the Tampa Bay Police Department to get an inside source on the entire situation. The NFL is imperfect, and quite frankly, unpredictable. It would be far from surprising to see Hunt land on a team to get a fresh start in 2019.