Roger Goodell Cancels Appearance Honoring Jerry Richardson After AP Report

The National Football League has said it didn't see the graphic video of Ray Rice's attack on his fiancée until after it had made its initial decision to suspend the player for only two games. On Wednesday afternoon, after the Associated Press broke a story claiming the NFL had received the video of Rice striking Janay Palmer, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has canceled an appearance at a banquet tonight. According to NBC Sports’ football blog, ProFootballTalk, Goodell was scheduled to attend a ceremony honoring Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson.

According to Michelle Boudin, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based NBC affiliate reporter, Goodell has backed out of the event where he was supposed to present Richardson with a humanitarian award.

Reporting live from the event, Boudin tweeted saying that Richardson deflected questions about the current NFL controversy and the role Goodell, a long-time friend, has had in it.

Richardson is receiving the Echo Foundation Award Against Indifference, which honors those who have exhibited “human dignity, justice and moral courage,” and was likely to be an opportunity for Goodell to make a statement on repeated calls for the NFL to take domestic violence cases more seriously.