ESPN has suspended Bill Simmons for three weeks for failing to meet “ESPN’s journalistic standards”, the company said in a statement.
On the podcast, Simmons called Roger Goodell a “liar” for claiming not to have known what went on between Ray Rice and his then-fiancée (now wife) inside an Atlantic City elevator until he saw a tape posted by TMZ.
He called Goodell’s claim about the incident, in which Rice threw a knockout punch, “f——- b——-.” He then challenged ESPN to punish him for the rant, which the company did on Wednesday.
Here’s his Goodell rant:
I just think not enough is being made out of the fact that they knew about the tape and they knew what was on it. Goodell, if he didn’t know what was on that tape, he’s a liar. I’m just saying it. He is lying. I think that dude is lying. If you put him up on a lie detector test that guy would fail. For all these people to pretend they didn’t know is such f—— b——-. It really is — it’s such f—— b——-. And for him to go in that press conference and pretend otherwise, I was so insulted. I really was.
[…]
The best point that a lot of people have made about this is this is exactly why he fined and suspended Sean Payton for a season [for Bountygate]. Sean Payton was like, ‘I didn’t know.’ [Goodell] was like, ‘Well ignorance [is not an excuse]’ and suspended him for a year. This is the same exact situation and it’s worse, because he knew and he’s a liar.