ESPN joined Sports Illustrated in the quest to redeem Adrian Peterson for beating his child today on NFL Countdown, with reporter Josina Anderson allowing the Vikings tailback the opportunity to whitewash the incident that found him indicted on felony child abuse charges without once challenging his answers; later, as the Countdown panel reacted, Mike Ditka openly endorsed child abuse and claimed he never had a problem with Peterson beating his kids.
Peterson, you’ll recall, admitted to damaging his child’s scrotum while police reports indicated his child feared being punched in the face if the child reported his abuse to authorities. Peterson has consistently indicated he believes he did nothing wrong; here, ESPN provides him every opportunity to make that case, while Anderson referred to the felony child abuse charges as Peterson “disciplining his son.”
Cris Carter, who notably called Peterson out for his offenses when the story broke, said after Anderson’s package aired that “I don’t have a problem with Adrian Peterson.” Mike Ditka followed this by explaining that his own father subjected him to abuse, and that the former Bears coach “thanks God every day that he did.”
[ESPN]
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