CultureMonday 02.07.22

How the NFL’s Ray Lewis Dodged Legal Scrutiny — And Wouldn’t Today

Time for “This Week In Sports History,” where LZ and Will break down an event from the past through the lens of the present day. In January 2000, Baltimore Ravens’ superstar linebacker Ray Lewis got into a fight outside a nightclub during a Super Bowl party that ended in the stabbing deaths of two men. Lewis and two of his friends were charged with murder. Lewis eventually pled guilty to obstruction of justice and received 12 months probation while his friends were later acquitted. To this day, there is still much we don’t know about what happened, and Lewis has barely ever talked about it. The evidence that has surfaced is damning, but Lewis survived it relatively unscathed: he went on to finish his incredible Hall of Fame career, he’s been an analyst on ESPN and FS1, and he’s done commercials for Old Spice grooming products and the video game Madden NFL 2005.Will and LZ talk about how traditional media — and perhaps more importantly, social media — would focus on such an incident today, and whether someone in Ray Lewis’s shoes would dodge harsh consequences. #raylewis #baltimoreravens #football

Watch The Long Game with LZ & Leitch Wednesday, Feb. 9 at 12:30pm EST and 5:15pm EST at twitch.tv/therecount.

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