The Kansas City Chiefs have drawn a clear line: The Chiefs fired Kareem Hunt after TMZ published a video of a surveillance camera in a hotel showing Hunt physically attacking several women.
The recordings of the surveillance camera leave little room for interpretation. There is a heated discussion between Hunt and a woman, and although the running back is held back several times by his companions, he first pushes the woman, whereupon she also beats him. Hunt then pushes another man onto the woman, who therefore falls down and Hunt kicks the woman on the floor against her leg.
The video had appeared on Friday afternoon – a few hours later the Chiefs announced the release of their Star Running Back. And yet, from a team point of view, the situation also has a flavor: The incident visible on the video had already happened in February and it was known that something had happened around Hunt.
Nevertheless, all involved seemed to put the incident on ice at least when the season started. The relevant police confirmed to NFL.com that there was no arrest and no charges against Hunt. According to a police report, the eyewitnesses had given different information about how the situation escalated in such a way.
According to NFL network insider Ian Rapoport, neither the Chiefs nor the League had actually seen the video until now.
The team statement follows on from this: “We learned of an incident at the beginning of the year in which Running Back Kareem Hunt was involved. At that time, the NFL and the authorities started investigations. We had several direct conversations with Kareem about this and he did not tell us the truth. The video released today confirms this. We’re releasing Kareem with immediate effect.”
About an hour before the Chiefs’ decision, Commissioner Roger Goodell Hunt had placed his bets on the Commissioner Exempt List, which means that the Running Back is not eligible to play until further notice. Hunt himself explained in a statement: “I want to apologize for my actions. I deeply regret what I did. I hope I can put this behind me.”