The White House believes the NFL needs to 'get a handle' on the league's domestic violence issues. (USATSI)
For someone in the NFL to get noticed by the White House, they either need to do something really good or something really bad. It's the latter for the league office Friday, with the White House issuing a stern edict over the recent domestic violence problems surrounding football.
Specifically, a White House official said, via our colleagues at CBS News, the league needs to "get a handle on" its issues with domestic violence.
"The NFL has an obligation not only to their fans but to the American people to properly discipline anyone involved in domestic violence or child abuse and more broadly, gain control of the situation," a White House official said.
"Many of these professional athletes are marketed as role models to young people and so their behavior does have the potential to influence these young people, and it's one of the many reasons it's important that the league get a handle on this and have a zero tolerance."
The White House is in the process of launching a new campaign ("It's On Us") geared towards "fundamentally shift[ing] the way we think about sexual assault, by inspiring everyone to see it as their responsibility to do something, big or small, to prevent it."
It's been a tumultuous few weeks for the NFL, beginning Monday after the first week of the NFL season, when graphic video showing Ray Rice punching his wife in an elevator was released to the public.
Outcry followed and more outcry followed that, with the Ravens releasing Rice and the NFL suspending the running back indefinitely. (The suspension is on appeal.)
Attention was then turned toward Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy, now on the commissioner's exempt list, going through the legal process in a domestic violence incident of his own. (A judge found him guilty during a bench trial; Hardy appealed the ruling and awaits a jury trial.)
Meanwhile, just five days after the Rice video was released, superstar running back Adrian Peterson was indicted on child abuse charges and turned himself into authorities. He's also on the commish exempt list until his legal issues are cleared up. The Vikings deactivated Peterson for Week 2 but reinstated him after losing badly to the Patriots before flip flopping again when the public was outraged.
And earlier this week, Cardinals running back Jonathan Dwyer was arrested on domestic violence charges after allegedly head-butting his wife for refusing his sexual advances. He also threw a shoe at his young son. Arizona immediately deactivated the running back.
Maybe the only surprise is the White House didn't say something sooner.
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