Fox Hosts’ Banter About Rice Video Draws Criticism

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Banter by two Fox News Channel hosts about video showing football player Ray Rice hitting his future wife has come under fire.

The “Fox & Friends” hosts, Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocy, made their on-air comments Monday while discussing newly released video showing Rice hitting Janay Palmer in an elevator in February.

Kilmeade said that the lesson to be learned was, in his words, “take the stairs.”

Doocy responded that the message is to remember that elevators include cameras.

The comments, which were criticized as inappropriate by media observers and in online posts, will be discussed on Tuesday’s “Fox & Friends,” the channel said.

Rice was let go by the Baltimore Ravens on Monday and suspended indefinitely by the NFL after the video’s release. His lawyer, Michael Diamondstein, declined to comment.

The video clip, released by TMZ Sports, shows Rice and Palmer in an elevator at an Atlantic City casino. Each hits the other before Rice knocks Palmer off her feet and unconscious, according to police.

Months ago, a TMZ video showed Rice dragging Palmer from the elevator at the Revel casino, which closed Sept. 2.

He had been charged with felony aggravated assault in the case, but in May he was accepted into a pretrial intervention program that allowed him to avoid jail time and could lead to the charge being purged from his record.