We all know many athletes, specifically ones that participate in violent sports are occasionally predisposed to violence. It is only natural that unnaturally large men that have spent their entire lives being physically aggressive with people will sometimes get aggressive in real life. However, it doesn’t excuse when the aforementioned large men cheap shot smaller men and subsequently kick their asses in Hollywood restaurants. When that happens you pretty much are just an a-hole.
Patriot legends and three-time Super Bowl champion as well as current NFL Network employee Willie McGinest falls in the a-hole category based on video from a West Hollywood restaurant after he sucker punched a dude and he and his boys subsequently tuned the guy up in spectacular fashion. Check this out.
“Things aren’t always how they seem at first glance. The truth will prevail.” What we know 100% is that the 6-foot-5, 270-pound McGinest and his boys walked into a Los Angeles restaurant back on December 9 and Willie took a sucker punch swing at a male and it was all caught on tape.
Former Patriots star and current NFL analyst Willie McGinest has been arrested for felony assault‼️
He punched a man and then smashed a bottle on his head at an L.A. hotspot earlier this month.pic.twitter.com/1rwcJB6fyQ
— OutKick (@Outkick) December 20, 2022
Well Willie, I’m not sure what your version of the truth is, but I am interested in finding out since the video CLEARLY shows you and your homies roughing this cat up with a cheap shot, a smashed bottle and a flurry of body blows, all before the main course!
“First and foremost, I want to offer my deepest apology for my lapse in judgment and behavior on December 9 at a restaurant in West Hollywood,” McGinest said. “To my family, community, friends, and youth I mentor, please know I feel horrible for my actions and take full responsibility.
“Most of all, I am disappointed in myself, as I know this is an isolated incident and is not reflective of my faith, role as a father, life’s body of work, or the role model I’ve worked hard to become. It is personally devastating that decades of community service, youth engagement, mentoring, and professional development would become an afterthought in a single moment that should have never happened.”
There is more to the apology, but it is so sincere and heartfelt that I can’t see my keyboard through my tears. Suffice to say, Willie f’ed up and showed what he is capable of, and now the world has some idea of who the smiling, affable dude on NFL Network really is. The sports world will forgive, and sometimes even forget. No one talks about how Michael Irvin once famously showed up to court in a full-length man fur to answer charges for being caught with hookers and cocaine, or how Randy Moss allegedly ran over a meter maid with his car. Ray “filet” Lewis? We won’t even go into that one. Point is, McGinest MIGHT get a pass on this, but maybe not. The video looks bad. Like, Ray Rice propping up his wife outside the elevator bad. Heard from Ray Rice lately?
Willie was arrested this week for assault with a deadly weapon. He posted bond and was released. He has since been suspended from his job at NFL Network and things aren’t looking good for the 51-year-old former linebacker. However, let’s not forget, suspects are innocent until proven guilty and perhaps Willie has a surprise defense here.
As Ricky Ricardo would say, Willie got some ‘splaining to do. It might be a tough road back to respectability, and employment for McGinest after this brutal beatdown.
Featured image screengrab from embedded Tweet
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