Last month, video emerged of former NFL running back Zac Stacy brutally
beating up his ex girlfriend in front of their five month old child.
Now he is providing one of the worst excuses I've ever heard,
especially in the context of domestic violence.
And before we get to his excuse and the brutal nature of all of this,
I do want to give you some background.
Now, the assault was captured on surveillance cameras,
and it was later shared on Facebook by the victim, okay, Kristen Evans.
The videos are still up on Facebook,
we had a little bit of a debate about whether or not we would show them.
But considering that the victim wants people to see what he did, and
since this informs our commentary and what we feel and think about it,
I do think it's important to show it.
But I want to give you this warning, it's very graphic, it's brutal and
difficult to watch, with that said, here it is.
Things are very different now.
[NOISE]
>> So Evans did receive a restraining order against Stacey, and
she also said that he had been abusive since she got pregnant with their child.
She was hospitalized with bumps, bruises and cuts.
Stacy fled their home in the state of Florida after the assault to avoid arrest.
So he was fleeing the authorities, but it was eventually apprehended and
was arrested in an airport in Nashville.
Bodycam footage of that arrest was also just released, and
it revealed Stacy blaming, literally blaming his ex girlfriend for
allegedly setting him up to do this.
And I'm gonna give you his statements in just a second.
But before I do John, I wanted to give you an opportunity to- yeah.
>> It's insane video, obviously,
I have to assume he's pretending that it's just nothing, move on.
It's more violent than probably anything anybody we know has ever been involved in.
And apparently it's just so casual to him that he thinks it's just that may look
bad, but her setting me up was actually the worst thing.
Get a load of this woman, it's just madness, there's no excuse for
whatsoever, and he barely even tries to provide one actually.
You know several years ago, 2014, 2015,
I remember there were several stories involving NFL players
who were physically abusive to their significant others.
And I can't remember all of their names, I apologize for that.
But I do remember the reaction to those stories and
how shocking it was to me, that there was just a giant portion of
this country who did not think it was a big deal.
They would try to find excuses for what the abuser was doing, right.
Things like, well, it looked like the girlfriend pushed him first or
something like that.
But, I mean, we're talking about NFL players,
were talking about professional athletes.
We're talking about people who are first of all, men,
who tend to be bigger and have a lot more physical power, and there's excuse.
[CROSSTALK] No football players, let alone being larger and.
>> Stronger than 99% of the population.
>> I mean, we've seen what football is, I don't really understand it or
like it [LAUGH] but-.
>> I don't trust it.
>> But, they jump on each other.
>> Yeah, look, I don't know in this case, and it's been so
long that I don't remember that.
But I'm not particularly shocked that there will be people defending that people
put their whole identity on teams and on players.
And more importantly, our country is full of at least tens of millions of people
who, fundamentally, don't give a damn about women.
Don't think domestic abuse is a big deal, and
think that everyone is being way too mean to men know.
This year has definitely been an eye opener in regard to how little
American society really cares about the dignity of women.
Whether it be sexual harassment, whether it be sexual harassment in the workplace,
whether it be domestic violence.
>> Now, where's Josh Hawley?
Where's Tucker Carlson?
They're so worried about the state of masculinity in this country, which,
as we know,
is being destroyed by things like pregnant female service members or the new Halo.
Not guys who've been trained to think that they can beat the hell out of their spouse
and then just move on from it, not even apologizing.
>> Well, Zac Stacy certainly does think he can do this and
get away with it and gave, believe it or not, this excuse.
This is a case of just bitterness, man,
that's why she did that, she did this, the whole assault thing.
She staged it, she set me up, whole thing was staged,
all she's trying to do is just get money out of me, she got a reaction out of me.
This is classic, honestly abuser rhetoric where they make their
victim think that they did it, that they deserved it,
that they're the ones who brought it upon themselves, he continues.
Girl is just bitter that I don't want to be with her, and
she's just trying to destroy my whole reputation.
And then he blamed his mental health issues, which I have no insight into.
We do know that NFL players, because of the nature of the sport,
have suffered from CTE, there's evidence indicating that,
that could lead them to be more violent.
But I don't know what his condition is, so I want to be clear about that.
With that said, he said, she knew I was down,
she knew I was going through anxiety and depression.
She knew I was trying to close this gap that's between me and my son, and
she's just upset that she got caught.
And she's upset I'm not taking care of her like she expected, and
now she took it this far.
>> That was a video of her taking it this far, that's the video that I saw.
So she knew that you were going through this period,
did you not know that you were going through this period?
Do you not have any like we were more likely than the vast majority of people to
have empathy for people with mental health problems.
We think it's something that, in general,
culturally is not taken that seriously here in the US.
And most people don't have access to resources.
I think that generally, I would assume that football players have more access to
those resources, especially the money that they make.
But either way, the compassion pretty much ends when you beat the hell out of
someone, you still have to be responsible for yourself.
You apparently are fully aware that you suffer from anxiety and depression.
Okay, if it is going to lead to violence, you need to do something about it.
And she implied that this is not the first incident either,
you're totally right about the abuse that the abuser language.
You can just take the she's in that first paragraph put use in and
I can imagine and likely he said things like that to her.
Except he's in this position of feeling safe and insulated.
Then you can just take those same things and actually put it out there.
That's supposed to be just a private thing that you think you can buy dominating
a person, get them to accept.
He thinks he can get all of America to accept that.
>> Yeah, he he said this to a cop.
>> That's crazy.
>> As the cop was arresting him.
>> Well and looks certainly we can have a conversation about how common
domestic violence is.
>> I wanna have that discussion right now.
So first, the victim in this story, Kristen Evans,
responded to the video on Monday, saying,
I don't know how you can stage getting you getting beat.
This is what abusers do, they will make you seem like you're the crazy one, and
they're the victim.
And she's right about that.
Now, Stacy is currently out on bond after he was charged with aggravated battery and
criminal mischief.
The former NFL player will stay in Alabama until December,
when he checks into a Colorado mental health treatment facility for 30 days,
according to his attorney.
Now, in regard to domestic violence, earlier, John,
you said this is probably worse than anything anyone we know has gone through,
but we don't know what everyone around us has gone through.
In fact, domestic violence is incredibly common, and
the victims tend to be men and women.
So let me give you the statement or the statistics.
One in four women 24.3% and one in seven men, 13.8%,
aged 18 and older in the United States have been the victim of severe
physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
And by the way,
I mean, I don't think it's surprising that the number is a little lower for men.
But I also want you to take into account the stigma associated with men reporting
it, if they are victims of domestic violence.
So I just wanna make sure people are aware of that, and
we shouldn't treat people differently based on their gender.
If people are experiencing that, they should feel comfortable reporting and
coming forward.
And if you happen to know anyone or if you are a victim of domestic violence,
there's a number that you can call please seek help, get to safety.
The number is 807-99 7233, 807 997233.
John, any final thoughts before we-?
>> Yeah, the only thing I would add is obviously there's stigma for both sides,
not the same stigma or the same level necessarily.
But both of those are likely to be undercounts.
>> Yeah, that's a good point, you're absolutely right about that.